Arvendole's Dragon
by invisiblewing
Summary: A loose (and dark) account of "Fright of Passage," generally told from Hiccup's point of view
1. Chapter 1

_**Defenders of Berk**_** belongs to Dreamworks.**

**This story is rated T for violence and some alcohol references. No profanity.  
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**Comments, suggestions and reviews are always welcome. Thanks for reading!**

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Another summer night was falling as Berk was winding down. I always liked this time. Because without fail, we had that mysterious glow in the sky, lazily drifting back and forth. I liked to sit on our stoop and just watch the patterns swirl into different shapes for just a second before morphing into something else. You had to be a pretty quick storyteller to be able to keep up with these patterns.

Behind me, the sky had already finished turning purple for the night. Not a cloud anywhere near here. And the skylights were beginning to fade in. Over the course of about ten minutes, they went from a dull shimmer to a vibrant blue glow.

"Wow. It's so pretty. But why is it blue tonight? I thought the skylights were supposed to be green."

"What did you say?" my uncle asked, stepping through our doorway to check on me.

"Do you know why the skylights are blue tonight?" I asked again.

Without warning, my uncle grabbed me by the midsection and rushed back inside. He almost threw me into the living area of our house. He must have been worried about something because he held the sides of his head, looking nowhere, and mumbled, "No, not tonight. Not tonight. Not tonight…"

His eyes went from worried to delirious. I hunkered behind our table, wondering what was going to happen. "Uncle Finn, what's going on?" But he only continued mumbling in panic. Like he was stricken with fear. "Uncle Finn? Why are you so scared?" More mumbling. "Uncle Finn? Uncle Finn!"

He closed his eyes for a few seconds. During that time, I heard the battle horn sound. It was a low tone, more felt than heard. It echoed throughout the entire island. I felt all the color drain out of my face. Somebody saw dragons coming. A raid was about to happen. We had just survived one three weeks ago. And now the dragons were coming back for more?

Through our closed door, several people began shouting. I heard their footsteps patter throughout the main plaza of the village. Several Vikings were shouting things, but I couldn't make anything out. Except for one word: "Flightmare."

"Uncle Finn?" I asked again. His eyes opened, having returned to worried.

"Astrid," he said, grabbing me by the shoulders. People were still running around outside, but I had heard several doors slam shut. Nobody seemed to be in the mood for fighting, only getting to a safe place. "Astrid, look at me!" I stared into his eyes. He looked determined now. "You must stay inside. I can't lose you too."

"Uncle Finn, what are you talking about? I don't understand."

"Just stay here. You have to promise me you won't leave this house until tomorrow morning. Everything will be over then. Understand?"

"Aren't you going to stay here with me?"

He shook his head slightly, looking down. "I'm going to stop it."

"Stop what? I…I don't understand!"

"There's a dragon coming," he said. "And I'm going to stop it from hurting anyone."

"Why is everyone so worried about one dragon? People fight hundreds of dragons during raids!"

"Because this isn't just any dragon. If it was a Nightmare or a Zippleback or even a Night Fury, we'd know what to do. But this is a Flightmare."

The one word that had filtered through our door started to make sense. But why were we so worried about a single dragon? Why was it my uncle who had to go out and stop it? And why wasn't he telling me anything about it?

He let go of my shoulders. "You're going to stay here, right?"

I started to worry, just like he was a few moments ago. "Uncle Finn! Stay here! Please!"

He bent down and hugged me tightly. I wrapped my arms around his neck, trying to get him to stay. "Stay in this house. You'll be safe here. Okay?"

"No! Please, Uncle Finn! I'm scared!" I shouted in his ear. Tears began streaming down my face from worry.

"You won't have to be scared after tonight," he said quietly. "I promise." He let me go and put me back down on the floor. Looked at me and smiled slightly. He wiped the tears off my face and said, "Be a good girl and stay inside." Without another word, he turned and grabbed an axe off the wall. It had the Hofferson family seal on it. Uncle Finn told me it was my mother's. Gobber crafted it specifically for her, taking his time, making sure it was a perfect match. Uncle Finn said he had never seen Gobber spend so much time making a weapon before. Even his own. And through eight years, I never saw Uncle Finn take it to Gobber's armory for sharpening. The axe must have had some kind of magic from Gobber in it to stay so sharp.

Uncle Finn opened the door and strode outside without saying another word. He closed it behind himself. I heard his footsteps clunk off the stoop into the plaza, and then his sound was lost in the crowd.

"Uncle Finn! Where are you going?" But he didn't answer. I stayed inside, next to the door, waiting for him to return.

Slowly, the noise outside died down to a low murmur. But I didn't hear Uncle Finn outside. Maybe he was on watch somewhere, patrolling the village. Maybe he was just sitting outside the door, making sure the dragon didn't come near me.

I couldn't take it any longer. I was too worried about Uncle Finn to think about staying put, like he said. I slowly opened the door and peeked through. Across the way, several houses seemed to have a dull blue glow. Like the skylights tonight. I opened the door further and stepped through. Closed it behind me.

I had never seen Berk like this. The skylights were super-intense tonight, much brighter than I had ever seen before. It almost looked like day in Berk. This would have been a great night to watch the sky, but everyone was worried about the Flightmare, whatever kind of dragon that was.

"UNCLE FINN!" I shouted, wandering into the village. "UNCLE F-"

A hand slipped behind my head and covered my mouth before I could finish. I tried to scream, but only a muffled sound came out. "Astrid! What are you doing out here? You need to stay inside, like Finn told you to!" It was our chief, Stoick. He removed his hand from my mouth and said, "Stay quiet, get…"

Suddenly, a bright blue flash appeared about a hundred yards away, on the other side of the plaza. It was at the top of the docks. I gasped.

"Odin, help us," Chief Stoick said.

The flash illuminated a large Viking standing stock-still at the top of the docks. I couldn't see clearly through the mist, but I knew exactly who it was.

"UNCLE FINN!" I shouted.

Several villagers had opened their doors, trying to catch a glimpse of what was happening. Each house looked the same around those Vikings. They were framed in back by a golden light, while I saw their faces bathed in a blue glow.

Chief Stoick let me go without realizing it, and I started running toward Uncle Finn. "UNCLE FINN!" I shouted again. He didn't move. The mist cleared, revealing him about fifty yards away, facing slightly toward us, his axe on the ground at his feet. His eyes were wide in terror, but he stayed rooted to that spot on the docks. It looked like he was trying to scream, but couldn't do it.

"Astrid! NO!" Chief Stoick shouted as he grabbed me.

I was lifted off my feet just as another blue flash occurred, but this one was different. Like it had a shape. It was flying straight toward Uncle Finn. And he still wasn't moving. A loud roar echoed through the village as I realized what was happening. This was the Flightmare.

The Flightmare swooped toward Uncle Finn, and for a moment, blocked our view of him. When the dragon disappeared, Uncle Finn was gone.

"UNCLE FINN! _UNCLE FINN!_" I screamed. I struggled against Chief Stoick, but he wouldn't let me go.

"Gobber! Get everyone inside now!" Chief Stoick shouted.

From behind me, Gobber shouted, "You heard Stoick! Inside, now!" Doors slammed as people took shelter inside. Chief Stoick held me against his shoulder, turned around and began running back toward his house.

"WHERE'S UNCLE FINN!? WHERE'S MY UNCLE!?" I screamed. I reached over Chief Stoick's shoulder, trying to grab at the area on the docks where he had been just seconds ago. Where his axe was still lying on the ground. "_UNCLE FINN!_"

Chief Stoick slammed his door open just as another roar echoed through the village.

"Chief Stoick! The dragon's not gone!" I screamed. The blue dragon appeared just over the houses in the village and roared at the top of its lungs. It streaked forward, crashing through one house and appearing in the middle of the plaza. The dragon paused and let out a deafening roar. Chief Stoick got both of us inside just as the dragon blew out some more of that blue fog. People who were in the plaza trying to run away from the dragon quickly stopped and stood there in shock.

Chief Stoick put me on the ground and said, "Astrid, stay here. Hiccup will be here in a few minutes. Don't leave this house until I get back."

I was too scared to say anything, so I simply nodded, tears still running down my face. Chief Stoick whipped around and shut the door behind him, leaving me alone, just like Uncle Finn did. He was going to be taken by the dragon, just like Uncle Finn.

After about a minute, my feet started working again. I ran to the door and slowly opened it. And found a boy named Hiccup on the other side, looking worried. I opened the door all the way, and he ran inside, just as I took off to the village.

"Astrid! Stay here!" Hiccup shouted, but I didn't listen.

By the time I got to the plaza, three houses were on fire and there was another one with a hole torn in the middle. The skylights were still blue, but there was no sign of the Flightmare.

"EVERYONE, GET WATER! WE NEED THESE FIRES OUT NOW!" Chief Stoick shouted.

I ran out into the plaza, toward the docks, ignoring anyone who told me to go back inside. "UNCLE FINN!" I reached the top of the docks, where his axe was still lying on the ground, blade still sharp. No trace of a dragon anywhere near it. And no trace of Uncle Finn.

I wandered back into the plaza, tears running down my face, screaming for my uncle. Telling him to come back. I had just seen my front door wide open when a Viking barreled into me, knocking me over. He didn't check to see who he had just upended, he just continued running with his bucket of water toward the fire. I stood up and staggered toward the door when Chief Stoick picked me up again.

"Astrid, what did I tell you about staying put!?" he said.

I couldn't do anything except cry. "WHERE'S UNCLE FINN!?" I shouted.

"We're looking for him. Now go back and stay with Hiccup until morning!" He set me down and pushed me toward his house. Unable to think of anything else, I slowly staggered my way there.

Hiccup was waiting for me inside. He opened the door for me and looked just as worried as everyone else in Berk. "I'm in so much trouble," he mumbled.

I sat down at the table and cried until Chief Stoick came home. He barged in and slammed the door shut behind him. The sound filled the house with an echoing crash like thunder. A few dishes fell off the hearth, adding to the noise with their clattering.

"_HICCUP!_" he shouted, even though Hiccup was right in front of him. "YOU HAD ONE JOB TO DO! SHE COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED OUT THERE!"

"Dad, I'm sorry, I couldn't stop her!"

"No, you _chose_ not to stop her! Now I had to bring her back home when I should have been putting out the fire! We lost two houses because of you! What is going through your mind, son?"

"I…I don't know! I really tried to stop her from getting out of here! Honest!"

"Next time, try _harder!_" Chief Stoick directed his eyes at me. "Young lady, stay here tonight. Don't let me catch you outside again." He switched his gaze back to Hiccup. "_You_," Chief Stoick pointed at him. "Get to bed." With that, he strode out, slamming the door behind him. I was too scared to react. Not only from the dragon, but also from Chief Stoick accusing his son of something he didn't do. I got out by myself. He tried to keep me here. But Chief Stoick didn't believe him. I buried my head in my arms and cried as Hiccup went upstairs to his bed.

* * *

The door creaked open, and Chief Stoick walked through. He closed it much more quietly this time than when he scolded Hiccup for something I did.

"That's it. The fires are out," Chief Stoick said, closing the door behind him.

I looked up with red eyes and asked, "Did you find Uncle Finn?"

Chief Stoick looked down, took a deep breath and said, "No. We looked all over the village for him. He's not here."

"No. Please, Chief Stoick. Please, you have to find him."

"Astrid, there's not much else I can do about it. We have a search party out right now, but they can't find him."

Without thinking I ran over to Chief Stoick and hugged him, crying. But I had no tears left. He held me, protecting me in case the Flightmare ever decided to come back.

"Astrid, you need to get home soon," he said. "Your aunt is waiting for you."

"Are you gonna bring Uncle Finn back?" I asked him yet again.

"We're trying. But your aunt is worried about you. Even though I told her where you are, you've got to get home now."

I looked up at Chief Stoick and rubbed my eyes. I had cried through the entire night but never slept. And I figured I wasn't going to sleep until Uncle Finn came back because I was so worried about him.

Chief Stoick guided me to his door, where he opened it for me. I walked through with him. He led me back to my house, where my aunt was waiting in the doorway. She looked just as worried as I was.

"ASTRID! Are you all right?" she shouted.

"Where's Uncle Finn?" I asked without even telling her I was safe. She immediately wrapped me in a hug and began crying. And I realized what happened. But something inside me kept the question away from her. Something told me that she was going to completely lose it if I asked her. But inside, I already knew the answer: Uncle Finn was gone. The Vikings in the search party weren't ever going to find him.


	2. Chapter 2

Astrid paused with a distressed sigh. "I've never told anyone that before," she said after a moment. I just looked at her. Toothless was lying near the table, not five feet away from me. Just like normal. All the while, there was some kind of celebration or ritual going on outside. We had the door open to cool the house down. Summer was in full force, and on Berk, that meant it was hotter than normal for a few days. And on the first new moon of the summer, we did this stupid celebration that looked more like a riot. Either way, I just couldn't grasp the idea of it.

Sure, we had Bork Week and Snoggletog (I still hate that name, by the way). But this night made no sense at all. The villagers paraded around town with shields and weapons, like they were ready to go to war. And it didn't help there was ale involved. Oh, yes. A bunch of inebriated Vikings with the sharpest swords they could find, stylistically reenacting some kind of ancient battle…What could _possibly_ go wrong?

I turned and looked out the door at the gaggle of Vikings getting more intoxicated by the minute. My dad was out there, making sure nobody killed each other. Needless to say, this night was always stressful for him.

"Anything interesting?" Astrid asked.

"Same old mess," I said with disinterest. "So, why did you want to join me tonight? What's wrong with staying at home?"

Astrid looked down at the table with a deep breath. "Yeah, my aunt really gets worked up about this. Last year, she came back and nearly burned the house down."

"I'm sure that happens all over Berk after tonight," I said.

"She was so intoxicated she thought I was a dragon. She attacked me and ended up setting the house on fire. This year, I just thought I'd let all this craziness pass and go home tomorrow morning. And I knew you were the only one who'd believe me about all this." She paused for a brief second. "I really hate this night," she said with another sigh, putting her head in her hands.

There was a pause in our conversation. I never wanted to take part in the "festivities" during this part of the year either, especially now that we had dragons roaming around as well. Somebody might see Toothless and rush him, thinking he needs to be killed just because someone got too drunk.

"Hiccup, does all this make me, you know, weak?" she asked, suddenly breaking the monotony of the dull roar outside.

My mind snapped to the present tense, having been lost in worrying about my dragon. "Uh…no," I said haltingly. "I mean, look at who you're talking to." Astrid scowled, and I immediately regretted saying that little comment. "Okay, Astrid, I don't understand why you're asking me this."

"It's just…it's that ever since my uncle, uh, you know, died that night, there's been this constant rumor going around Berk that he was weak. And that I live in shame because of him. And nobody knows the truth. Not even me." She sighed again. I had never seen Astrid this distraught. Normally, she sat up pretty straight, trying to make sure everyone saw she was on-track to becoming a Great Viking. But tonight, her back had a curve in it, like she had given up for a while. "And around this 'celebration,' it seems like the whole world wants me to know about it. About 'Fearless' Finn Hofferson." She slurred the word "fearless" in irritation.

Toothless stood, yawned and padded over to her. Using his snout, he nudged her shoulder gently with a soft grunt, telling her she was gonna be okay. Astrid looked at him for a few seconds and then scratched underneath his chin. Toothless shut his eyes and murmured happily. She smiled a little.

"Hiccup, how does your dragon know what I'm thinking?" she asked as she stroked his cheek. Toothless's eyes were still closed as he soaked up her affection.

"I don't know," I replied. "He does the same thing for me too."

"Has he ever done this for anyone else?" she asked. She sounded a lot calmer now. Toothless was working his magic, just like he always did. It was one of his little idiosyncrasies that made him an amazing dragon.

"I don't think so." I let Astrid continue doting on Toothless. Just to make sure, I glanced toward the door, where Stormfly was curled up and sleeping. Astrid had brought her over to make sure nothing stupid happened to her dragon tonight. Especially when her aunt was the widow of the Viking who had inadvertently caused all this silliness. This was the first year Berk had this celebration with dragons around, which made it even more tense than normal. It was comforting to know both of us thought the same way.

I looked out the door and saw Snotlout and Hookfang reveling in the pageantry. They were doing some kind of mock fight, with Snotlout parrying around his dragon as Hookfang tried to catch him. _This could get out-of-hand at any minute,_ I thought. I sighed in annoyance as Hookfang started blasting small amounts of fire at Snotlout. Mock-fight, indeed. Last time I checked, there was nothing fake about a Monstrous Nightmare's lava. I stood up and walked over to the door. Closed it quietly to keep from waking Stormfly. She sighed and switched positions slightly, but didn't rouse. Success.

I turned back to Astrid, who had stopped petting Toothless. And, predictably, Toothless was gently nudging her shoulder again, asking for more attention.

"Really, Toothless?" I asked him. "You're not _that_ neglected." I walked over to him and put my hand gently on his side, just underneath his saddle. I always let Toothless know when I was coming up behind him. He was still a dragon, after all. And that meant he had claws, teeth and fire at his disposal. The moment you lose respect for that, you put your life in danger. Even if the dragon is as calm as Toothless.

Toothless grunted and looked at me when I touched his side. "You don't need to go begging for attention, bud," I told him. And stroked the top of his head, trying to get him away from Astrid. He moaned softly, trying to keep his head underneath my hand.

"You didn't need to do that, Hiccup. I don't mind him asking for attention," she said.

"He really doesn't need to be begging for it." I sat down and turned slightly away from Toothless. After a moment, he sighed in contentment, even though I had robbed him of Astrid's attention. He curled up with a quiet murmur next to us. And closed his eyes.

Both Astrid and I relaxed slightly after Toothless's little production, leaving the problems outside. We had what was important to us, and that was peace of mind, a Deadly Nadder named Stormfly and a Night Fury named Toothless.

Through the door, a dull roar began to intensify. It wasn't staccato enough to be Stormfly, who was still asleep near the door. But something didn't sound right. Astrid looked at me with a tinge of worry in her face. I stood up without a word. The chair scraping across the floor caught Toothless's attention. He lifted his head and looked at me curiously, wondering where I was going. I walked over to the door and opened it quietly, trying to keep Stormfly from waking. I didn't want to startle her, which would have been a recipe for a few tail spikes flying around the house.

Outside, people were getting ridiculously worked up. The ale was evidently flowing now. The throng of Vikings had moved away from the great hall and into the plaza. They looked like ants from my house, but I saw exactly what they were doing. The Vikings had formed a loose ring of spectators, and people were staging more mock-fights with some of the dragons we had around.

Unless someone had trained a dragon for this, I'd have been willing to bet something stupid was gonna happen within two minutes. There would have been no way a dragon could know what was real and what was fake. Especially when it was looking at a drunken Viking.

Inside the ring, I saw a Monstrous Nightmare. It wasn't Hookfang, because there was another Nightmare on the outside with a saddle and a lone Viking on it. Snotlout had an elevated seat to watch the proceedings, thanks to his dragon. But the Nightmare in the ring was more of a purplish color. Just a random dragon we had roaming around Berk. Somewhere between feral and domesticated. And it looked genuinely scared. _This has disaster written all over it,_ I thought.

"Hiccup? What's going on out there?" Astrid asked, making me jump.

"Oh, man, this isn't good," I said, not even trying to conceal the worry in my voice.

Astrid shot up and strode over to the door. Toothless grunted quietly, watching her. Stormfly was still asleep, or at the very least ignoring everything around her. "Looks like some kind of staged fight going on with Hookfang," she observed.

"No, Hookfang is on the outside," I pointed out. "Snotlout is sitting on his neck, watching everything from above."

She gasped slightly, as the situation became clear to her. "Hiccup, that dragon's gonna go on a rampage," she said.

"Do you think we should be ready in case something happens?" I asked.

Without saying a word, Astrid reached down and stroked Stormfly on her side. Her dragon woke up with a soft warble and looked around. Stood up, stretched and waited for Astrid's command.

I followed her lead and walked over to Toothless. "C'mon, bud," I said gently while stroking his neck. He grunted slightly and stood. And followed me back to the doorway.

Both of us turned our attention back to the crowd below at the same time. A wild roar emanated from the crowd of hundreds of Vikings as the dragon matched it with its own roar. The dragon blasted fire all around itself and cleared a path through the Vikings. Within a few seconds, it had a fire jacket going and began terrorizing the Vikings around it. And its first target was Snotlout because it could see him.

"Toothless, let's go!" I shouted.

At the same time, Astrid shouted, "Stormfly!" We were airborne just as the Nightmare lunged at Hookfang. It knocked Snotlout's dragon over with ferocious speed and roared as it began its rampage, just like Astrid had predicted. Snotlout ended up pinned underneath his dragon.

"HICCUP! GET THE DRAGON UNDER CONTROL!" Astrid shouted.

We had no time for argument, so I simply nodded at her. "You heard her, bud," I told Toothless. He banked slightly right as we were headed for a point in front of the dragon, who had already set a few houses on fire. Including Astrid's. _Her aunt won't be happy about this one,_ I thought. I figured she was gonna be solidly in Mildew's camp concerning dragons after tonight.

I liked knowing Toothless was probably the fastest dragon around. Ever. We were a few yards away from the dragon before it could cause any more damage. He spread his wings, slowing down just in front of the Monstrous Nightmare. I rolled my peg backwards, spreading the tail fin out, allowing Toothless to hover. He gave a short roar, catching the dragon's attention. And unfortunately, he caught every drunkard's attention as well. All three of us were now marked for death. We had to get this dragon away from Berk now.

The Nightmare roared back at Toothless and shot a jet of lava in his direction. I saw it coming and rolled the stirrup in, allowing Toothless to dodge to his right. The lava hit a house behind us, setting it on fire as well. Great. I just hoped we could do a good enough job of saving everyone to avoid a small percentage of my dad's wrath tonight.

The Vikings were beginning to close in on us, ignorant of my dad's shouting. "ASTRID! I NEED HELP!" I shouted in her direction. Astrid quickly joined us and had Stormfly shoot a couple of tail spikes in front of the craziest part of the crowd. Without fail, her diversion worked as several villagers screamed bloody murder and took off after Astrid and Stormfly. Her Nadder bleated in fear, never having experienced people in a drunken rage before. Astrid, however, kept Stormfly moving at a fast enough pace to ensure she wasn't in any trouble, guiding the villagers to the great hall.

The Monstrous Nightmare Toothless and I were focused on lunged. Toothless shot to his left again, getting open land behind us. The dragon lunged again, and Toothless retreated. Lunge. Retreat. Lunge. Retreat. I paid attention to what Toothless was doing, making sure he didn't corner the dragon. We had to keep it in control as it got over its anger.

After about three more retreats, the Nightmare collapsed in exhaustion as its fire jacket faded. It was lying on the ground, looking at us, but not threatening. I'd have bet it didn't have the energy to shoot any fire.

"GET 'IM!" someone shouted from behind the Nightmare.

This was going to be tough. Toothless couldn't use his fireballs to stop this crowd, and if they caught sight of him, both of us were at major risk. But what choice did I have? "Toothless, land there," I said, pointing to the patch of ground between the Vikings and the Nightmare. He did exactly as I told him and set down. "Battle ready," I whispered to him. He crouched, glaring at the approaching Vikings, ready to launch an attack. Normally, they'd have backed off, but we weren't exactly dealing with sane people here.

"WE'RE GETTING A SACRIFICE!" one person in the mob shouted. The others shouted in assent and picked up the pace.

Another person shouted, "DRAGON FIRST, THEN THE BOY!" I felt the color drain from my lips as I heard him. A weight formed in my stomach and dropped as I realized there was probably nothing I could do to stop this mob. Toothless intensified his glare and began snarling at the Vikings. Some of them who weren't too inebriated backed off slightly. The rest, on the other hand, showed no signs of stopping.

I couldn't afford retreating, not when there was a dragon behind us who had no way to defend itself. We had to gamble. I glanced and saw my dad rushing toward us, but he was a couple hundred feet away at the moment. "Toothless, plasma blast!" I shouted, pointing at the ground in front of the villagers. He took a quick breath and shot a bright blue fireball, which made a hollow-sounding explosion a few feet in front of the lead villagers. The mob stopped and looked at us in drunken surprise. We stared at each other for a few seconds. Toothless growled, letting them know they were out-of-line.

"KILL THEM!" one person shouted as he teetered dangerously close to falling over. The rest screamed about a hundred different battle cries simultaneously and charged.

"Toothless, up!" I shouted, yanking up on his saddle. He jumped and took off. As we rose out of reach, I saw the look of shock on my dad's face, knowing he couldn't control these people tonight. Their hollering intensified as they saw the Monstrous Nightmare we had been guarding, trying to keep it safe. But we failed. The dragon couldn't do anything as the Vikings ran forward to kill it.

Toothless screamed in anger as we watched the riot begin its work on the dragon. The dancing firelight from the flames on their torches illuminated a dark stain on the ground, made by the Nightmare's blood. I caught a very brief glimpse of a large gash in its neck. Before my vision could lock onto the scene, Toothless banked to his left, so that my back was facing the kill ring. I shut my eyes briefly, trying to rid my memory of that image, but when you see something that disturbing, you can't un-see it.

Somehow, I guided Toothless away from Berk to let the insanity die down. We landed in the cove, where Astrid and Fishlegs had already found shelter.

Toothless landed and let out a roar that would have shattered my eardrums had I been in front of him. Astrid and Fishlegs covered their ears and flinched, while Stormfly and Meatlug backed away slightly. Toothless finished and began panting. He was voicing all of my anger for me.

"D-did something, you know, bad happen?" Fishlegs asked meekly.

I sighed and nodded somberly. "Yeah, they killed the dragon. TOOTHLESS AND I DID A _GREAT_ JOB FAILING TO PROTECT IT!" I kicked the ground in frustration, stirring up a gout of dirt.

"Don't beat yourself, Hiccup," Astrid said. "You know just as much as anyone else it's impossible to control a bunch of drunken people."

"Is everyone else okay?" Fishlegs asked.

"I have no idea," I shot back.

"Look, I wouldn't mind staying here tonight with our dragons," Astrid said, trying to get the subject away from what happened in town. "Let the ale and mead wear off for tonight."

"That's a great idea," Fishlegs said.

I shuffled a few feet to my left and hugged Toothless, thankful he was unscathed. He still was angry about what happened, but it felt like he was starting to get over it. Several tears escaped my eyes as I held him tightly. That Monstrous Nightmare didn't deserve to die. And I thought Berk as a whole was really starting to accept having dragons around. I felt so helpless, knowing all the hard work we put in for these dragons went to waste tonight.

After a while, I sat down and used Toothless's side as a cushion. I leaned against his side, slightly underneath his wing. Even though I had protection from my dragon, I barely slept. I kept wondering if there was something I could have done to protect that Monstrous Nightmare tonight.

* * *

I opened my eyes to find Toothless curled slightly around me. The first streaks of orange were painting the lower part of the sky, telling me dawn had just barely arrived. I looked around to find both Astrid and Fishlegs next to their dragons, already awake.

"You think it's safe to go back now?" Fishlegs asked.

"I think so," Astrid said. "If we wait too long, there will be a lot of people awake, and I'm not sure if they'll be over what happened last night."

Last night. I shuddered, remembering the gruesomely impromptu ritual that resulted in a dead dragon. And all the other dragons in Berk were certainly going to be on edge for a while. "Sounds good to me," I said.

I nudged Toothless gently in his side, trying to get him to wake up. He grunted and found me sitting next to him. And licked me on the side of my face with a low rumble. He was thankful I was okay.

All three of us climbed onto our dragons and took off. A couple minutes worth of flight brought us back to Berk. Back to reality, where there were several people passed out in the middle of town. Not in their homes. This town was gonna have one massive hangover for today.

In the plaza, across the way from the armory was the reminder from last night. The Monstrous Nightmare they killed…no, _mutilated_, was still there. The dragon looked like it was floating in a pool of blood.

Toothless flew to about twenty feet short of our doorstep. There was only one Viking I didn't recognize near our house. He was completely oblivious to the Night Fury landing about ten feet away from him. I heard two more dragons behind me. Turned around and saw Fishlegs and Astrid with their dragons. The Viking still didn't move, even with two more dragons nearby.

"Can't go home now," Fishlegs said quietly. "Too many people around." I nodded in understanding. Motioned for them to join me. Hopefully my dad would understand too. More hopefully, he wouldn't be angry with me for not being able to protect the dragon last night.

I slowly pushed the door open, where my dad was sitting at the table, his head in his hands. He was looking at the door, waiting for something to happen. I realized he was worried about me.

"Hiccup! Thank Thor you're all right!" he shouted as I peeked in. I pushed the door all the way open, revealing Toothless, Astrid, Stormfly, Fishlegs and Meatlug behind me.

"Can they come in too?" I asked, motioning toward the others.

"Why do we need four dragons in this house?" he asked pointedly.

"Uh, sir, we can't get back home. There are still too many people outside from last night," Fishlegs said.

My dad thought for a minute. His expression turned from slightly irritated to realization. Without saying a word, he motioned for them to enter.

"Stormfly, stay here," Astrid commanded, directing her dragon to the spot she was in yesterday evening. Stormfly curled up and watched us. I figured she was going to fall asleep sometime soon, which didn't bother me one bit.

"Right here, girl," Fishlegs said to Meatlug. She plopped down next to the stairs. Generally out of the way.

Toothless bounded up the stairs. I heard him charring his rock. He tromped on it a few times and was silent after that. And I saw Thornado was resting in the back corner, oblivious to the other three dragons here.

All three of us sat down at the table with my dad. After an awkward silence, I said, "Dad, I'm sorry."

He seemed to know exactly what I was talking about, because he looked at me and said, "It's not your fault, son. You did everything you could. And so did Astrid. I'm the one to blame, because I should have never let the villagers think they could fool with dragons and drink themselves crazy at the same time." He paused with a low sigh. "As soon as everyone's recovered, can I ask for your help in cleaning the village up?" He directed the question at all three of us.

"Yeah, we can do that," I said, answering for myself, Astrid and Fishlegs. Neither of them had anything to say, so I guessed they were on board with me.

"Good. You two and your dragons can stay here as long as you need to," he said to Astrid and Fishlegs. "I'm going to get some rest. We'll start cleanup this afternoon."

"Okay," I said. I turned to Fishlegs and Astrid. "I'm going upstairs."

"We'll stay down here…keep our dragons company," Astrid said.

I tromped upstairs, avoiding the fifth step and found Toothless curled up on his rock. He watched me as I slid into bed. And sighed. All of us were stressed from last night, but we had to face it one more time this afternoon.


	3. Chapter 3

"Before we start cleaning Berk, I just want everyone to know that my son and his dragon were almost killed last night," my dad announced. All of us who were at least coherent after last night were in the great hall for a town meeting. Everyone was standing around the large fire pit in the center of the hall. And my dad wasn't pulling any punches in his explanations about what happened yesterday. He explained what happened with the Monstrous Nightmare and what we were going to do about it. He explained how next year's "celebration" was going to have more restrictions. And everyone was listening to him without a break in their attention. "Do you have anything to add?" he asked me quietly after he finished his spiel.

I was gonna shake my head no when an idea hit me. Without asking for his permission, I climbed onto the hearth separating the villagers from the fire pit. "I only wanna say one thing," I said. "I don't care who was part of that mob last night. I'm not naming any names. But last night, everything we've ever done for these dragons doesn't matter anymore. Today, I am ashamed to live in Berk." I didn't care whether I was a decent public speaker or not. That was something that absolutely had to be said. Some people looked down, avoiding eye contact with me.

One of the villagers broke into a hearty laugh as I climbed off the hearth. Soon others followed. Their laughter sounded like it had a tint of alcohol in it. I wheeled on the spot and started finding my way through the crowd, trying to leave. My dad's hand grabbed my shoulder. "Hiccup, I need you to stay here," he said.

I sighed and brushed his hand off my shoulder without saying a word. And continued walking. I left the great hall and sat down on my stoop, chin in my hands. Looked at nothing. Toothless jumped out of the skylight in the roof and landed on the ground with a _ka-thump_. Padded over to me and sat down with a low murmur. I looked at him. He must have been feeling my depression. I sighed again, not wanting to be around anyone except for Toothless. And even then, I didn't have the energy to give him any attention.

I knew I couldn't live like this. Being around dragons wasn't going to be perfect every day. But when something like this happens, how can you not feel like it's gonna be this way forever?

After some time, the crowd solemnly exited the great hall. They were heading for the dead Nightmare in the middle of the plaza. I watched impassively as they wrapped it in a large leather sheet and carried it toward the forest on the other side of the island. Nobody said a word the entire time. I guessed my dad must have said a few choice words after I abruptly left. And on the outside of the group, Snotlout was standing with Hookfang. Watching. He waited until the rest of them were gone, then got onto Hookfang's neck. He pointed at me and winked. They took off, headed somewhere other than here.

* * *

I dismounted Toothless's back after he galloped into the arena from a flight over. "That was not good," I observed.

"What?" Snotlout asked. "That you get to clean up town after a festival? What's so different about that?"

"Why were _you_," I pointed bitterly at him, "just sitting there with Hookfang? My dad specifically told you what to do at the very beginning of this afternoon!"

"Not my problem. I wasn't the one who killed that dragon. Why should I have to clean it up anyway when I can just wait for you to come along?"

I was trying my hardest not to get violent. With Snotlout, it was always difficult, but recently, he must have seen me restraining myself. So, naturally, he took every opportunity he had to provoke it. "WHY DID YOU JUST LET IT GET KILLED!?" I shouted at him.

"You didn't hear?" he asked. "Now that we're living with dragons on Berk, we should have a sacrifice for Arvendole." He made a show of crossing his arms smugly.

"No, we don't need any sacrifices," I said, burying my forehead in my hand.

"What is it with you and your sissy ideas about living in peace with the dragons?" he shot at me. "Why bother 'domesticating' them when they're just gonna tear the place up?"

"Oh, yeah," Astrid jumped in. "They're _definitely_ gonna tear Berk up, especially after one of them was killed in some kind of stupid ritual. A ritual that was started on-the-fly by a drunkard."

"Look. We can use the dragons here to defend ourselves. I've said it before. If we keep them happy, they'll defend us if someone like Alvin decides to come back," I said. But reasoning with Snotlout was like trying to saddle a yak. You work like crazy, but what's the point?

"Yeah, you're forgetting one thing," Tuffnut interjected. "Arvendole's Fire could happen any night now."

"Yeah!" Snotlout shouted. "The sacrifice was to keep Arvendole's Fire away."

"Guys," Fishlegs said. "Arvendole's Fire isn't gonna happen this year. It only happens once a decade, and since the last one, we've only seen nine summers."

"Oh, since…" Snotlout paused for dramatic effect. Before my mind could figure out what was gonna happen, I had this sinking feeling.

"_Don't_ go there," Astrid warned him.

My mind connected with what he was after, but I just couldn't react fast enough. I was too exhausted from last night and this afternoon of cleaning up the town to do anything.

"The last Arvendole's Fire?" Snotlout said provokingly. "With 'Fearless' Finn Hofferson?" He slurred the word "fearless" mockingly.

It was like Snotlout dropped a torch in a dry forest. A wildfire named Astrid became uncontrollable. She strode toward him and kicked him in the knee. Snotlout's leg buckled in pain, where Astrid wrenched him to the ground and stomped on his face with her boot. She actually looked kinda graceful, even behind all that anger.

"Take it back!" she shouted. "Take it back NOW!"

Instead of saying anything, Snotlout grunted and tried to move Astrid's foot. She responded by pressing harder on his face.

"Astrid, I think you're preventing him from talking," I pointed out sarcastically.

"Good," she said. "I'm trying to make sure his face stays this way. So that when he thinks about saying something idiotic about my family again, he can just look at his reflection as a reminder."

Snotlout mumbled something, but nobody understood him. I backed away, heading toward Toothless, who was impassively watching the entire show. I knew he didn't care much for Snotlout, probably because of that fateful day in this arena, when he threatened to brutally kill Toothless in front of me.

Snotlout mumbled something again. "I think he's asking you to stop," I told Astrid.

She lifted her foot slightly off his face, and he said, "I hope this isn't permanent."

"It will be if you don't leave my family alone!" Astrid shouted. And threatened to smash his face again.

"Okay, fine! I'll leave you and your fearful uncle out of this!" he said with a smirk.

Astrid quickly brought her foot back down on his face and twisted his arm, just to make sure he got the message. He tried to shout something again, but it was too garbled to actually understand.

After a few seconds of watching Astrid grind Snotlout's face into the arena floor, I realized I was enjoying it too much. Several years ago, I made a promise to myself that I would never become like Snotlout. I didn't understand was so glorious about sadism. But here I was right now. Becoming another Snotlout. I ripped my gaze away from the spectacle between Astrid and Snotlout and found Toothless looking at me with those deep yellow-green eyes. I relaxed almost immediately, even though there was someone getting hurt not ten feet away. But around Toothless, the rest of the world seemed to disappear.

"C'mon, buddy," I said quietly. I reached out and stroked the top of his head.

"Oh, I _do_ believe Hiccup and Toothless make quite a pair," Snotlout said, trying to get a rise out of me. Astrid must have let him go. I paused for a split-second in front of Toothless, reminding myself about my promise. I let the moment pass and then climbed onto Toothless's back, not making eye contact with Snotlout at all. Toothless turned around, galloped out of the arena and took off. I heard Snotlout say something as we were leaving, but didn't turn around. He wasn't important enough at the moment.

I directed Toothless to land near the armory. I dismounted and hugged him tightly around the neck. For some reason today, I forgot what was really important to me, and it felt awful. There had been other days where I barely acknowledged the fact that Toothless was my reason for getting up every day. And I didn't give it a second thought. But today, it was different. Maybe it was because I had just witnessed a dragon being killed last night, unable to do anything about it. Maybe it was because Astrid was stressed about this rumor concerning her uncle. Maybe it was because of Snotlout's antics. But whatever the reason, I felt like Toothless needed to know at this moment I was gonna be there for him.

I let him go and walked inside. Toothless followed. I grabbed a bucket and a coarse rag. Filled the bucket with water. And walked back out, Toothless behind me. I was headed toward the spot where the "sacrifice" happened yesterday. The dragon was gone, but the bloodstain was still there. It was buried at the far side of the mountain, all the way across the island. The mob that had killed the dragon had to carry it all the way there, cleaning up its dripping blood, thanks to the consequences from my dad.

A few flies were buzzing around us, feasting on the remaining blood. It was only a matter of time before this spot became an area of filth. I was still uneasy around the sight of blood, but I had nothing else to do. And I really wanted to take my mind off of all that transpired in the last day-and-a-half. Ironically, the only activity that came to me was cleaning this area.

"Really? By yourself?" Astrid asked.

I jumped slightly from surprise. "Nobody else is gonna do it," I pointed out. "Might as well get it done now."

"Well, you're not doing this on your own," she said.

I sighed and stood to face her. I had progressed from depression to being in one of those foul moods that you just have to let pass, where there is nothing anyone can do for a while to help get you back to normal. I saw Astrid and Fishlegs armed with buckets of water and brushes, ready to help. "Okay," I said unemotionally. "Let's get started."

Toothless, Stormfly and Meatlug stood guard while we got busy cleaning the bloodstain in general silence. I knew it was gonna take a while for this patch of ground to return to its former glory, but that was fine.

* * *

I walked toward home after putting the tools up in the armory. Toothless was by my side. Fishlegs and Astrid went in their own directions. I felt tired, but that sour attitude I had earlier today was mostly gone.

Toothless and I were about halfway up the slope leading home. Nothing but grass and stone in our way, just like normal. From across the plaza, I heard a woman's voice screaming at the top of her lungs.

"DON'T COME NEAR ME, DRAGON!" I turned around just as Toothless grunted. He must have heard the commotion also. Below us, a Deadly Nadder was standing near a doorway. Astrid was right next to the dragon, standing ramrod straight. Putting two and two together told me this was her aunt yelling her head off about Stormfly.

I watched as Astrid's aunt rushed back into her house. She disappeared for a few seconds. During that time, Astrid took a few steps backward, leading Stormfly in the same direction. Astrid's aunt returned with a sword and shield and took a cut at Stormfly. Astrid and her dragon bolted, heading my way. On the ground. Astrid apparently didn't have time to mount Stormfly and get airborne.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," I mumbled. I gently nudged Toothless off the beaten path to our house. "Battle ready," I said quietly. Toothless crouched, watching Astrid, her aunt and Stormfly heading in our direction. I knew Stormfly wasn't a keen runner, which didn't bode well for what was chasing her.

"STORMFLY, GO TO HICCUP!" Astrid shouted. Her dragon took off, flying over us and landing about ten feet away from my house. Seconds later, Astrid dashed past, her aunt a few paces behind. "I can't stop her!" she shouted.

Toothless growled, making Astrid's aunt stop in her tracks. She spied Toothless just as I stepped between them.

"Night Fury," she said. She reeked of alcohol, so either she had drank herself crazy again today, or last night hadn't worn off yet.

I stood my ground, not saying anything. _Just go back home._ I thought. _Don't do it_.

But she did. She shoved me to the side with her shield. Toothless sprang forward and tackled her as she dropped both her sword and shield. Just like he did on that first day I encountered him, Toothless had his front left paw on her chest. His claws, long, deadly and sharp, tightened around her neck. His face was inches away from hers, telling her never to come near me again. Toothless snarled as she finally got the message. Astrid's aunt turned ashen white from fear and passed out. Toothless let her go and looked at me apologetically.

"Come on, buddy," I said without touching him. "Let's go." I resumed walking up the hill, Toothless just behind me.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!?" my dad shouted from the doorway.

"Astrid's aunt tried to kill Stormfly and Toothless," I said.

"She hasn't gotten over last night," Astrid added.

My dad strode over to Astrid's aunt, shaking her shoulders gently. She stirred. And slapped my dad in the face.

"OUT OF MY WAY, OAF!" She stood and grabbed her shield. My dad stopped her before she could get her hand on the sword. "Since nobody else will do it, I'm going to kill all the dragons here."

"No. You're. Not," my dad said slowly. He glared her in the face.

She glared back and said, "My husband says he'll come back if I do." She teetered slightly in front of my dad.

"I, uh, see what you said about your aunt not handling this time of year well," I stated objectively to Astrid.

Astrid turned and walked toward Stormfly. Placed a hand gently on her flank. After a few seconds, Stormfly calmed down enough to lay her tail spikes back down.

There was a loud scream of protest as my dad walked Astrid's aunt back down the hill toward her house. She fought and shouted at him the entire way back. Toothless growled in her direction.

I turned to Astrid and pointed at the door. I had no idea what might happen if I said something. Astrid shrugged and led Stormfly inside my house I followed with Toothless behind me.

We sat at the table in the living area. Toothless curled up beside Astrid and Stormfly, letting them know they were gonna be okay. I took a deep breath, just wanting all this stupidity to go away.

Normally, Toothless and I would have been on an evening flight by now. I realized we had missed the last three scheduled flights. If this would've happened any other time, he would have never let me hear the end of it. But he never bugged me about flying. Not when there were more pressing issues at the moment.

The door opened after a while, silhouetting my dad. "Astrid, what is going on with your aunt?" he asked.

"She, uh, never really takes this time of year well," she said. "She drinks herself crazy for a few nights and goes on and on about her husband, Finn."

"Well, as long as she doesn't get the rest of Berk on her side, I think you should be fine here," he said to her.

"Okay," she said. "Thank you, sir."

He nodded and left us to do some more chiefing.

I sighed in a combination of exhaustion and worry. Today had been too much to handle. And to cap it all off, Astrid's aunt had gone crazy for a while. "I'm going upstairs," I told her. And stood up. "You can stay the night if you like."

Astrid nodded without looking up. Kinda like last night, I had never seen her so glum. There was always that fire behind her eyes, but the last two nights extinguished it. I felt horrible, somewhat understanding what it was like to be in her shoes. I had gone through that pain, and to this day, I can't believe I survived it. But it felt worse seeing it happen to someone else.

I sat back down next to her.

"D-don't worry about me," she said, but it sounded like she didn't really mean it. She sighed.

I stood back up after a moment and touched Toothless gently on the top of his head. He grunted softly. "C'mon, buddy," I said quietly, about to head upstairs. I liked letting Toothless bound up the stairs first and follow him. It felt like he was always protecting me if he went up first. Like he was checking for gnomes or trolls or something like that.

But Toothless simply looked at Astrid with his deep yellow-green eyes. And looked back at me. And I knew exactly what he was saying. He was gonna stay with Astrid for the night because she needed his protection more than I did. She needed his company. He was always in tune with people's emotions. It was just another one of Toothless's little quirks that made me thankful for him.


	4. Chapter 4

I awoke with a start and noticed Toothless wasn't at his usual spot. His rock was empty, save for the layers of char that had built up.

"Where's Toothless?" I asked the air in front of me.

"Down here," Astrid's voice rang out.

I thought for a minute and remembered. Toothless stayed next to Astrid for the night. My heart rate slowly returned to normal. I yawned. Stood up and donned my flight vest. Went to the bath area and washed using the water in the basin. I shuffled downstairs, avoiding the fifth step and found two dragons and Astrid sitting around our table. And one of those dragons was a Night Fury. Toothless grunted and loped over to me, like he was saying hello. I stroked his cheek as he murmured happily. He was probably getting antsy over not having been on a real flight in a couple of days. Maybe Berk had gotten over Arvendole's Festival (or whatever you call it) enough for a morning flight.

"Hey, buddy. Let's go flying," I suggested, trying to sound at least a little animated. It wasn't hard, especially if you compared my tone to yesterday. Toothless straightened up almost immediately, his eyes turning round. He was wriggling with excitement, just like normal. I checked Toothless's saddle and asked, "Care to join us, Astrid?"

Without saying a word, she stood up from the table and got onto Stormfly's back. I took that as a _yes_.

I got on Toothless's saddle, but didn't hook in with my peg yet. I knew we were gonna have to get airborne today, especially when I promised Toothless we were going for a flight just seconds ago. Toothless ambled out of the doorway with Astrid and Stormfly just behind us. He looked back at me, waiting for me to click into the stirrup. But I wasn't in any hurry yet. I looked around Berk, noticing it was slowly returning to normal. No trace of ale floating around. Thank goodness.

I turned around and asked Astrid, "You wanna lead?"

She grinned. "Good luck keeping up with us." And took off.

Toothless didn't need any encouragement, as he left the ground a second after Stormfly.

Just like usual, Stormfly was a keen flyer. She rose into the air and banked left. Toothless and I followed. And just like usual, Toothless wanted to race. Wanted to win, maybe so he could have bragging rights? I felt it in his wing beats. There was a sense of urgency behind each stroke. His breath was coming in massive gasps.

"It's okay, bud," I said to him, stroking the top of his head. "Just follow." I didn't know about Astrid, but I just wanted to relax after the past couple of days. I only wanted to enjoy our little pleasures, like a morning and evening flight.

Astrid turned around after a few moments and noticed we were still the same distance behind her. "C'mon, Hiccup!" she shouted.

I motioned forward with my right hand, telling her to just fly. She turned back around. Stormfly must have gotten my message, because she began soaring instead of racing.

I paid attention to everything today. Like the wind rushing through my hair. Feeling Toothless's wings pump up and down. The misty spray from the ocean's surf. I just wanted my mind anywhere but Berk for at least a few minutes. I closed my eyes, listening to the wind, the ocean and Toothless breathing.

All of a sudden, I heard a loud squawk from just in front of me. It was Toothless. I opened my eyes to find a rock pillar looming about twenty yards away. I tensed, feeling Toothless check to his left. Rolled my peg in. Toothless banked left. The wash from his wings rattled a few stones from their perches, where they fell and splashed in the ocean. Toothless made to bank to his right, so I followed, getting us back on path with Astrid and Stormfly.

Stormfly rose in the air slightly. It looked like she and Astrid were aiming for a stone arch sticking out of the ocean. Stormfly landed exactly where I was looking. I followed with Toothless. This was a convenient resting point for Toothless, as we had been here many a time, just watching the ocean march back and forth. Watching the clouds in their slow trek across the sky. And occasionally, watching other dragons come and go from Berk.

"All right, Hiccup, what's going on?" Astrid asked. She sounded a lot more normal, like the fire inside her was returning. And she also knew Toothless and I were competitive when it came to speed in the air.

"I just want to fly," I said without hesitation. She looked at me and nodded in understanding.

"Breakfast then the academy?" she asked.

"I think you've read my mind," I said animatedly.

"Well, the food's getting cold and I'm not getting any younger."

Without another word, she and Stormfly took off. I followed with Toothless again. We landed in front of the great hall and strolled in, our dragons following us inside.

"I'll get the food," Astrid said. I wasn't gonna argue. She directed Stormfly to one of the benches peppering the great hall. Toothless and I weren't far behind. A couple of minutes later, Astrid came back with two smoked cods, a basket of fish and a basket of chicken. She put one of the cods and the basket with fish in front of me and kept the other fish and basket for herself. And Stormfly.

I put my basket in front of Toothless and opened the lid. He was wriggling in anticipation, especially now that we were approaching normalcy once more in our routine. He stuck his head into the basket and pulled back out with a fish in his mouth. Bit it in half. And swallowed. Toothless licked his lips with a low groan, looking at me excitedly.

I was about to take a bite of cod when I saw what Toothless was doing. Great. Another "gift" for me. But he padded over to Astrid and looked at her. And I knew exactly what was going to happen. I couldn't stop from grinning as I buried my face in my hand, trying to hide it from Astrid.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

"I think a gift is headed your way." She looked quizzically at me.

As if on cue, Toothless's eyes lost focus. His stomach sucked in a couple of times like he was gagging before he regurgitated the front half of the fish he had just swallowed. Right into Astrid's lap. I had to cover my mouth to keep from bursting out laughing.

Astrid panicked with a short yelp and quickly brushed the fish off her lap. And glared at Toothless with a huff. He continued staring expectantly at her.

"C'mon, Astrid. You won't take a gift from a Night Fury?" I said teasingly.

She rolled her eyes in irritation. Turned back to Toothless. And stroked him underneath his chin. He shut his eyes and murmured happily.

"I'm glad Stormfly doesn't give me 'gifts' like that," she said. Eventually, she stopped giving her attention to Toothless and started on her breakfast. Toothless padded back over to his basket and began eating. Without any more gifts.

I said nothing because my fish was getting cold. Started eating, just like it was a normal day.

Stormfly finished her meal first, followed by Toothless, then me and Astrid. I took the dishes and baskets to the back of the great hall. Returned to our table and led Toothless out. Astrid and Stormfly were just behind us.

"I have an idea for the Academy today," I said as we exited the great hall.

"Okay," Astrid said back. "See you there." She climbed onto Stormfly again and they took off.

Astrid knew I liked to walk with Toothless to the Academy after breakfast. And today was no different. We passed the faded bloodstain from the Monstrous Nightmare. Toothless and I paid it no attention, which meant to me that Berk was coming back to normal. Well, about as normal as it can get when a bunch of dragons are milling around town.

I stopped by the armory, filling four small burlap sacks with a brick-red pigment. Collected them into one large bag and continued with Toothless to the Academy. When we got there, Astrid was waiting with Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins. All of us had our dragons.

"What's in the sack?" Snotlout asked.

"Poison," I said casually.

"Ooh! Lemme try it!" Tuffnut shouted as he bounded his way over to me. His sister wasn't far behind.

I rolled my eyes. "C'mon, guys. This is for Astrid."

"I think I could find something to do with 'poison,'" she said. A wry grin spread across her face. She was the only one who was fast enough to figure out I was lying.

The twins were fighting over rights to the bag, so I slinked away, putting Toothless between me and them. And took the bag with me. They had no idea their reason for fighting was gone, but the shouting between them continued. Eventually Astrid strode over and shoved her way in between them. Ruff and Tuff stopped almost immediately and looked around, only to find Astrid and Toothless nearby.

"Aww, where's the poison?" Ruffnut asked.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked. The twins saw me behind Toothless, holding the bag with "toxic" contents. They sighed in defeat. "Okay, now that we're all mentally present, let's get started." I walked over to Astrid and gave her the bag.

"For me?" she asked obviously.

I grinned and turned back around to everyone. "Astrid has several small bags full of red pigment. That's your poison." The twins' shoulders slumped further, now knowing this stuff was purely innocuous. "Everyone will have a two-minute head start. From there, Astrid will come out looking for everyone."

"_Really?_" Snotlout asked. "We did this last week!"

"I know," I said. "I want to see if anyone has improved in being stealthy."

"Yeah, that rules me and Meatlug out," Fishlegs said.

"No, it doesn't," I told him. "You can find a way. Just try it." Fishlegs groaned in frustration, but I wasn't gonna give him any slack. "Anyway, after ten minutes, everyone will need to return here. You can still be hit when coming back. The only safe area is the Academy, and the safety only starts after ten minutes. Any questions on the rules?"

"Yeah," Ruffnut said. "Do we have to do this?"

"You can always go back home," I said. "Those are your two choices." She and her brother groaned. Just like Fishlegs did.

"Sounds like they're all ready," Astrid said sarcastically.

"Yep," I replied. "When you're ready, let us know."

"Let's go!" she said.

I made sure the other three dragons left the area before getting on Toothless's back. "Let's go, bud," I told him. I had the same plan as last week: get to the cave nearby and hide under Toothless's wings. Toothless took off, letting me guide him toward our little spot. Every now and then, I glanced backwards, trying to see if Astrid had started yet. Stormfly was still in the Academy. Glanced forward. The opening to the cave was just barely visible in the distance. Glanced backwards. I saw a Deadly Nadder exit the Academy.

"C'mon, Toothless! Faster!" Last week, we were just barely quick enough. I had maybe three seconds to dismount Toothless's back and hide under his wings. It was mostly because I found out about this cave just before Astrid reached me and Toothless. This time, I wanted about twenty seconds so we could find a spot that was totally inconspicuous. Toothless grunted and picked up the pace. I glanced backwards and saw Astrid peg Snotlout in the chest with her first salvo, giving him a badge of shame for the rest of the day.

Surprisingly, Fishlegs and Meatlug must have taken my advice seriously, because they were simply hiding around the other side of the Academy, just out of Astrid's sight. _They just might pull this off,_ I thought.

Astrid and Stormfly were barreling their way towards us, just as Toothless dove into the entrance of the cavern. He roared into the cave, finding his way around a turn using sound. I put my hand on his head to stop him and directed him to the inside of the turn, just around the corner. Where Astrid would really have to make an effort to stop and look.

I crouched down after guiding Toothless to his spot. And tried to pull his wings around us. He got the message and wrapped me in his wings, head down. From the outside, he looked exactly like another rock. Except we were out of the way.

It wasn't long before a warble announced Astrid's arrival with Stormfly. Astrid's dragon slowed her flight down to avoid hitting any obstacles. The swishing of her wings got louder as they approached. My heart rate quickened as I heard muffled footsteps. Stormfly had landed, but I wasn't sure if Astrid had gotten off her back or not. I couldn't let something like this happen to me, not when I had a perfect track record in these games. Nobody could beat a Night Fury in stealth. Despite all the anxiety, Toothless was perfectly still, although his eyes showed a small amount of worry.

Stormfly grunted a few times. She and Astrid were maybe ten feet away from Toothless. _Come on,_ I thought. _Just keep going_. All of a sudden, Stormfly warbled loudly, snagging Astrid's attention. She must have seen Toothless move.

"Let's get 'im!" she shouted to her dragon. And they took off, continuing their way through the cave. I heard Astrid grunt then shout, "Both of you are out!" It must have been the twins on Barf and Belch.

"Okay, bud, let's head back," I said. Toothless unfurled his wings and looked down at me with a protective expression. But before either of us could move further, Astrid and Stormfly reentered the cave. Toothless grunted and wrapped his wings back around me, turning us back into a nondescript stone.

Stormfly landed again, this time several yards away. Astrid dismounted and began inspecting the area just beyond the far entrance of the cave. If Toothless and I would have been on the other side of the corner, we'd have been able to make a clean getaway. But if either of us moved, Astrid was gonna peg us with a salvo of "poison."

Astrid got onto Stormfly's back again, and her dragon began walking in our direction. I watched as a faint image of Stormfly's feet passed us. She continued trodding her way toward the other entrance. I heard her wings spread as she and Astrid left the ground, heading somewhere else.

I touched Toothless on his wing, and he let down his guard. Peeked around the corner to find Astrid standing guard at one mouth of the cave we were in. I heard a shuffling sound on the other side and saw Stormfly alight at the other entrance without her rider. _Great_, I thought. Toothless and I might have been stealthy, but Astrid had definitely fooled me this time. I took a quick breath and hopped onto Toothless's back. Directed him to our right, toward Stormfly. Astrid's dragon saw us and cackled loudly.

"Gotcha," Astrid said eagerly. She was still near her entrance, trying to find her way into the cave, but the darkness was slowing her down almost to a crawl. Stormfly spread her wings and cackled again, trying to tell Astrid she saw us. Toothless took off toward Stormfly. I was hoping Astrid didn't train her dragon to throw paint bombs at us. As we neared Stormfly, she left the ground, trying to corral us in the cave. I saw what she was doing, and continued on a beeline directly toward her. At the last second, I rolled my peg in and pointed it slightly downward. And pushed Toothless's saddle down and to the left. I plastered my chest to his back as we zipped underneath Stormfly's outstretched wing. She whipped around and warbled loudly, letting Astrid know we had gotten away.

"Toothless, go to the Academy!" I shouted. He banked right and took off, headed straight to the arena. We entered and found Ruffnut and Snotlout splashed with brick-red powder. Fishlegs was there too, but he was clean. So was Meatlug.

"What took you so long?" Tuffnut asked.

"Astrid almost got us," I said. Looked at Snotlout, who was still sulking. Fishlegs seemed excited, though. I was about to ask him how he got back unscathed when Stormfly and Astrid flew in.

"All right, Hiccup," she said. "How did you do that?"

"Magic?" I guessed, grinning slightly. "It's a secret," I added.

"Well, if you must know, Fishlegs is getting better at this," she said. "Snotlout and the twins haven't shown any improvement."

I looked at the splotches of red powder on them. Turned to Fishlegs. "How did you get away?"

"Oh, I just hid behind the arena and waited. Astrid never thought about checking there." Astrid gave a why-didn't-I-think-of-that look.

"Well, we can continue working on this some more. In the meantime, let's finish for today," I instructed. "See you guys tomorrow."

Everyone left except for me, Astrid and our dragons. She looked at me in earnest. "Hiccup, I just, um, wanted to say thanks for your help the last two days," she whispered. "I don't know if Stormfly would be here today without your help."

"Oh, uh, anytime," I said.

Without another word, she got onto Stormfly's back and left. Toothless and I followed, except we were on the ground.

* * *

Toothless and I landed a few yards away from our house after supper and an evening flight. Both of us were certainly happy about being able to get on with our lives. I didn't leave Toothless's back as he padded his way to the door. It was just nice to be able to relax for once in a few days. As he approached the stoop, the sky was beginning to show its nightly colors around this time of year.

"Toothless, right here," I said quietly. And dismounted. I stood next to him, watching the drifting glow fade in. We had several nights during the summer to watch these skylights take over the night sky, but tonight, they were especially intense. This usually happened about two or three days a summer, so I didn't think anything of it.

Over the course of about ten minutes, I watched as the lights went from pale to vibrant, watching as the patterns swirled into each other.

I saw my dad trudging up the hill to our house. "Feels nice to have a normal life again, doesn't it?" he asked.

I simply nodded. And sighed happily. Toothless rubbed his head underneath my left hand, asking for some attention. I scratched the top of his head. He groaned in appreciation. "I think I'm going to bed," I told him. My dad nodded without saying a word.

I walked inside with Toothless, letting him bound up the stairs, like he was gonna protect me from gnomes or trolls. Or something like that. And through the opening in the roof above us, the skylights were bright blue, casting a dull glow over all of Berk.


	5. Chapter 5

I was about to slip out of consciousness when I looked through the opening in my roof one more time. It was the same image: a bright blue glow, lazily drifting back and forth.

Blue. Bright blue. So bright, the village was bathed in a dull glow. Like you could almost read by this light. My mind turned itself back on, searching for something to connect with blue.

From out of nowhere, a low tone, more felt than heard, sounded throughout the village. It was the battle horn. Toothless shrieked and jumped off his rock. A second later, he shot a bright blue fireball straight into the wall not five feet away from him. It made a hollow-sounding explosion that left my ears ringing for a few seconds. And a scorch mark about a foot in diameter. Toothless whipped around with a snarl, searching for the source of what he heard. He was ready to tear it apart after it startled him so much.

I bolted out of my bed and ran over to him, which was probably the last thing I should have done. Toothless saw me and whipped back around with a swipe of his front right leg, his claws coming dangerously close to my chest. He roared in fright to no one in particular. His behavior wasn't like what we saw with the Whispering Death or Torch, the Typhoomerang. Toothless knew exactly what was going on those times. But now, he was in utter panic. And I had to calm him down while wondering what the blue glow in the sky meant. And why the battle horn sounded.

"C'mon, buddy," I said gently, trying to hide the panic in my voice. He roared again, jumping up and down while whipping around in circles. His eyes couldn't focus on anything. I waited for him to turn slightly away from me. He did, and I quickly rushed in and put a hand on the back of his neck, telling him he was gonna be okay. Telling him I was gonna protect him.

Toothless jumped in shock as he bowled me over and rushed to claim his "kill." I was on my back and saw his front legs. It wasn't like the first day I met him when he pinned me underneath his foot. This time, he straddled my chest with his front legs and glared at me. He growled, his face inches from mine. I kept eye contact, trying to tell him it was me, Hiccup. Put my left hand gently on his front leg, hoping he would get the message.

The battle horn sounded again, followed by shouting. But Toothless seemed to ignore it this time, as he continued glaring at me. His teeth were bared, ready to rip my skin to shreds. "H-hey, buddy, it's me," I said quietly.

Toothless grunted in realization, closing his mouth. His eyes went from slits to rounded as he saw what he had done to me without knowing it.

I stroked him underneath his chin. He tried not to close his eyes, still getting over the shock of his actions, but I understood. For whatever reason at the current moment, I was in a super-patient mood. And I had no idea why, especially after Toothless blindly attacked me. But I was gonna stay with Toothless, regardless of the emergency at hand.

"It's okay, bud," I whispered, still working underneath his chin. Slowly, he closed his eyes apologetically with a low moan, letting me pet him. I backed out from underneath him and got to a kneeling position just in front of his shoulder. Hugged Toothless around his neck and chest, telling him everything was fine. He was a dragon after all, and there were going to be some moments with him that weren't pretty. He sighed, slowly returning to his normal self. I held onto him, feeling his tension disappear.

All I knew was that I was glad he didn't blow me apart with a fireball…

Wait.

Fireball. Blue fireball, like the one he shot in panic. Blue fire, like in…the…sky.

_Arvendole's Fire._

I let Toothless go and took a deep breath, eyes closed. Why couldn't it have waited another year, like Fishlegs said yesterday?

The battle horn sounded a third time. Toothless tensed slightly, but didn't go berserk like he had earlier. Instead, he nuzzled into my chest with a soft moan, seemingly asking for my protection and forgiveness. I scratched the top of his head and whispered, "Let's stop this dragon, buddy." He looked directly into my eyes. I waited for Toothless, letting him know he was in control. From all of my experiences with dragons, keeping them in control of their surroundings was one of the best ways to calm them down.

After a few seconds, Toothless looked at the opening in the roof with a low grunt. He was ready. I shuffled back to his saddle while keeping my left hand on his neck and back. I didn't want him to be startled again. Those thirty seconds of panic from him were too dangerous to happen again.

I climbed onto Toothless's saddle and hooked in with my peg. He hunkered down and launched straight for the opening in the roof. I held my chest to the back of his neck as he grabbed a hold of the edge and hoisted himself onto the roof, just like he always did.

"Hiccup! Over here!" Astrid shouted at us. She was about three-quarters of the way to my house from the plaza. She must have seen Toothless materialize on the roof. For someone who didn't know about that opening, I'd have bet it was a little unnerving to see a dragon suddenly appear from out of nowhere.

"Go to Astrid," I said to Toothless. He jumped off the roof and galloped his way over to Astrid. "Are you going where I think you're going?" I asked her.

"Pretty much. You can either stay here or join me and Stormfly." Astrid wheeled around and began running back toward her dragon, who looked a little spooked from all the commotion. "C'mon!" she shouted, waving me toward her. And without waiting for me or Toothless, Stormfly took off.

Toothless and I followed, headed west. The Flightmare always came from this direction. Always. Nobody could figure out why. By the time we could alert everybody about Arvendole's Fire, the Flightmare would show up. Like it was on cue.

"Astrid!" I shouted to her over the wind. She looked at me. "We're not fighting this dragon! Just watch!" She rolled her eyes and exhaled, like she was giving a frustrated groan. I couldn't hear her over the wind. But we continued flying.

Toothless and I crossed the threshold between village and wilderness, and it seemed like everything was brighter. Including the ground. It almost felt like daylight over here. And in the distance, a blindingly bright flash appeared. The Flightmare was right on time. Now that we had dragons, we could watch the entire show instead of simply hunkering down in our houses, hoping the Flightmare wouldn't find us.

The sun-like point of light became larger, and it took on a shape that looked like a dragon. As the Flightmare barreled toward me and Astrid, it let out a roar that sounded like Toothless, only it was about an octave higher. In slow motion, I watched as the Flightmare slowed down and spread its wings. From out of nowhere, another blindingly bright flash appeared. Except this time, it seemed like it happened maybe ten feet away from us instead of a few hundred.

I felt Toothless react. His wings stopped pumping, sending us plummeting downward. Toothless let out a shriek as I tried to hold on for dear life, tried to get his tail fin in position to save us. He crashed with a thunderous impact, sending me skidding about ten feet away from him. I stood up and felt my elbows burning from dragging along the ground. There was a good chance I was bleeding, but we didn't have time to worry about it. Meantime, the Flightmare simply continued on its track, unmindful of the Night Fury and Viking below.

Stormfly landed several yards away from me. Astrid was on her back. "Hiccup! Are you…" Astrid started.

We didn't have time for a conversation. Nobody just _gets_ into Berk like this. Not on my watch. "Later," I said quickly.

"Does this mean you don't wanna train it?" she asked eagerly.

"Nope. We're stopping this thing." Upon hearing me, Astrid put on a wicked grin. My idea of observation disappeared pretty quickly.

I rushed over to Toothless and found him still on his side, frozen in panic. His side was heaving with each breath. Every time he exhaled it sounded like he was groaning. "C'mon, Toothless, look at me," I pleaded. He continued panting, his eyes wide and unable to focus. Kinda like what happened just a few minutes ago. Only this time, it seemed like Toothless was locked up in fear, not just startled. I put my hand gently on his cheek, reassuring him I was still here, still protecting him. "Look at me, bud," I said again, trying to hide the panic in my voice.

Slowly, Toothless's eyes came back to normal and focused on me. We made eye contact. I still had my hand on his head, feeling his tension slowly melt away. I had no idea what that Flightmare did to him, but it certainly worked. Toothless struggled to his feet.

Astrid got onto Stormfly's back and took off while I was tending to Toothless. She and her dragon whipped in front of the Flightmare. Stormfly took a breath to blast a stream of white-hot fire, but the dragon simply went through the exact same production. Like it was nothing to simply brush an irritating bug out of the way. I realized it was only from its front that the Flightmare could blind someone. Toothless and I were at its back, and all I could see was the dragon stopped for a brief second. The reflection off of Astrid and Stormfly told me they were getting blinded. This dragon was ridiculously good at what it did. There was no way we were gonna stop it without some kind of divine intervention.

Stormfly seized just like Toothless and crashed into the ground. Astrid was ready and jumped off her mount at just the last second. She whirled and threw a paint bomb from earlier today, nailing the dragon at the junction between its wing and side.

The Flightmare gave a surprised roar, turning around to see who had just committed that felony. Astrid pulled her axe out from the back of her belt. I was struggling to get onto Toothless's back because I was panicking.

"Astrid, what are you doing!?" I shouted.

"What does it look like? Defending Berk and my family!" she shouted back. She turned to face the dragon, which had just found her standing with her axe ready. "Leave Berk now, and never come back! Here I am, ungodly beast! Fearless Astrid Hofferson. _COME AND GET ME!_"

The Flightmare didn't need to be told twice. It folded its wings slightly, preparing for a dive. As it plummeted toward the earth, it shot some kind of blue fog straight in Astrid's direction. The dragon made a loud hissing sound as the fog left its mouth. Astrid was ready and sliced her axe vertically through the cloud of mist. It helped part the dragon's salvo about as much as blowing out a candle in a raging inferno.

In a split-second, I watched as Astrid immediately froze on the spot, her eyes wide in terror. Just like Finn's nine years ago. She looked like she was trying to scream but couldn't do it. The dragon swooped toward her, blocking my view. When the Flightmare lifted back into the air, Astrid was gone. The dragon gave another shrill roar as it turned to its right, heading in the direction it had come from.

"ASTRID!" I tried to grab at the air from a good forty feet away, like it was gonna help get her back on the ground. I had no idea what state of fear was beyond panic, but my mind had been given a violent shove there, thanks to this neon-blue dragon. It sure lived up to the name of "Flightmare."

I stood there in frozen thought, unable to move any more than reaching toward where Astrid was standing just moments ago. I heard Toothless roar in an effort to get my attention but I just couldn't react. _Come on, just move something_, I thought. My mind and body were disconnected for a short while. But it was about an hour longer than needed for the Flightmare. Suddenly, my brain snapped into the present. I whipped around. Jumped onto Toothless's saddle and hooked in with my peg.

Last time, when the Flightmare took Finn Hofferson, we couldn't follow it. Because it was too fast for us to run after it. But I had a Night Fury. I was pretty sure Toothless was thinking along the same lines as me. Especially after he had given Astrid a "gift" earlier this morning.

Without warning, Toothless leapt from the ground. I followed with my peg, keeping his flight steady. And we were headed directly for the spot of light in the sky. The one I knew had to be the Flightmare. And I knew it was the spot of light that was carrying Astrid.

The Flightmare was quick; I found that out just from watching it the last couple of minutes. But I also knew there was no way it could keep up with Toothless's speed. I hunkered down in the saddle, pasting my chest onto his back. "Come on, Toothless! Faster!" I shouted. He grunted and picked up speed as we closed on the Flightmare. We were almost in range. I didn't say a word or adjust my position on the saddle. It was my way of communicating to Toothless that we needed to stay quiet. Because we were in the Flightmare's blind spot. The dragon was flying on a roughly straight line, completely oblivious to Toothless and me a hundred yards behind it. _Come on, closer. Closer…_ I thought. _Wait for it. Wait for it._

"Plasma blast!" I shouted, pointing at the dragon's back. Without hesitation, Toothless launched a blue fireball that streaked toward the Flightmare. The dragon tried to react, but the fireball met its back before it could move. I heard a hollow-sounding explosion as the Flightmare's back telescoped from the fireball's impact. The dragon roared in pain and surprise. And just underneath it, I saw something that looked like a ragdoll falling toward the earth.

"Toothless, get Astrid!" I shouted. I pointed at the limp figure plummeting downward. Toothless gave a short roar that sounded more like a grunt, folded his wings and went into a stoop. I rolled my peg forward, collapsing the tail fin. Toothless's speed increased exponentially as the ragdoll figure disappeared from my sight. I felt Toothless extend his right front leg and grab something. Looked down and saw Astrid being held by her leg, still locked up in fear. "Great job, buddy!" I shouted.

Toothless banked to his right, turning around and getting the village in our sights. But the Flightmare was behind us, and I figured that dragon wasn't going to forget what Toothless did to it anytime soon. It gave a frustrated roar as Toothless picked up the pace, trying to get Astrid back to safety.

We were speeding our way back to Berk when a loud scream ripped through the air. I winced and glanced behind us. No Flightmare, well, at least it wasn't _that_ close. As I turned, my peg slipped from the stirrup, causing Toothless to drop in altitude. I gasped in panic, knowing the only thing separating me from death were my hands and right foot. And I felt my fingers beginning to slip from Toothless's saddle.

Another scream tore the air in two as I realized it was Astrid getting over whatever the Flightmare did to her. I jammed my peg back into the stirrup and rolled it backward, helping Toothless regain control of his flight. He slowly dropped, landing with his back legs first, followed by his front left leg. He kept Astrid against his chest, preventing her from getting hurt. I jumped off Toothless's back and got Astrid to a kneeling position. Glanced behind us and saw the Flightmare was heading in our direction.

Toothless jumped between us and the dragon. Launched two fireballs, forcing the Flightmare to land briefly. It roared at us. Toothless returned the message and kicked up gouts of grass and dirt with his front legs, telling the Flightmare he was gonna fight to the death to protect us.

I turned to Astrid, who still had that same frozen-in-panic look on her face, although it was much less intense now. "Astrid!" I shouted urgently. We couldn't afford to lose time, not with a Flightmare on its way to Berk. And I had no idea where Stormfly was.

Slowly Astrid's eyes focused. And found me. "H-Hiccup?" she stammered. "Where's Uncle Finn?"

"Astrid, it's just me and Toothless right now. Where's Stormfly?"

"Toothless?"

Oh, man this was bad. She could move, but was totally incoherent. It was like the Flightmare had unlocked Astrid's memories from nine years ago. "Toothless, my dragon," I said, pointing toward the Night Fury who was guarding us. He looked back to check on Astrid. "Where's Stormfly?" I asked again.

Astrid leapt up and began running toward Toothless, who tensed. She had the old-Astrid look in her eyes. The Astrid who trained only to kill dragons. The Astrid we all knew before Toothless came along.

"Astrid! Stop!" I shouted, getting between her and Toothless.

She stopped. And closed her eyes for a few seconds. Toothless watched her, making sure she wasn't gonna attack him again. Astrid looked at me again. "Wh-what's happening?" she asked.

"The Flightmare's fog paralyzed you," I said. Granted, it seemed like the effects of it were temporary, maybe a minute or two at the most. But a minute with a ferocious dragon at close range was like an eternity if you wanted to stay alive.

"Did it try to kill me?" she asked.

"It carried you away, but Toothless stopped it," I said.

Astrid looked at Toothless. Blinked a few times and looked at him again. And heaved a long sigh. "I can't do this," she said in half-resignation. It sounded like she was fully coming back to reality.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"I can't stop the Flightmare," she said. It sounded like she was ashamed of herself.

"Yes. _We_ can," I said, motioning to her, myself and Toothless. "_We_ can stop it."

"No, you don't understand," she started.

Before she could say anything else, I interrupted, "You don't want me here so that you can get rid of the rumor about your uncle. By yourself." She froze, thrown mentally off-balance. I knew I hit the bulls-eye just by looking at her reaction. "Toothless and I aren't going to leave you. We can do this. Together. Or does all that time you asked for my help in keeping yourself and Stormfly safe not matter anymore?"

Astrid looked like she was ready to throw a fit. She closed her eyes again for a brief moment. I waited for her to decide. Either she could agree to my help or face the same fate as her uncle. There was no way she could take this dragon on by herself. Even with Stormfly, it was far from a sure bet.

She heaved a sigh and said quietly, "I've been waiting nine years for this. If I fail tonight..."

I interrupted her again and said, "You're not going to fail. Not tonight. I'm gonna make sure of it."

Astrid looked a little relieved that I was committed to helping her. "I've gotta get to Stormfly," she said firmly.

I pointed in the direction I last saw her dragon. "I think she's that way. You go get her while I help Toothless." Without another word, Astrid took off running.

Meanwhile, the Flightmare and Toothless were having some kind of roar-off. They were on either side of the river when I got to Toothless. Without warning, the Flightmare leaped into the air and shot some more of that fog in my direction. And I was standing about two feet away from Toothless. I jumped to my left, and Toothless to his right. The fog settled between us. I looked back at the Flightmare, who turned toward me and barreled forward. It shot more blue fog straight at my chest. I felt like I was rooted to the ground as I saw the Flightmare approach at blinding speed. Couldn't do anything as the fog settled over me like a blanket, turning my skin to ice. Time seemed to stop. All I could see was the Flightmare. There was no Toothless, no Astrid, no Stormfly. Just me and the dragon. And it was here to do only one thing. Kill.


	6. Chapter 6

I stood ramrod straight as the Flightmare approached at breakneck speed. Couldn't move. I saw in my mind what to do. Lift my peg off the ground and leap to my left, using my right foot to push off the ground. But my legs, or the rest of my body for that matter, wouldn't work. And the Flightmare was maybe ten feet away. I saw its ghostly eyes and bright blue body heading straight for me. The dragon roared at me, making sure I wasn't going anywhere.

I made an attempt at saying, _Toothless, hurry_. But I could only think it as the Flightmare slowed down a little and landed a couple of feet away from me. I felt the breath from the dragon as it exhaled. Heard its low-pitched rumble every time it breathed out. _Toothless, where are you?_ But there was no Night Fury. Toothless had abandoned me, maybe because he saw I wasn't worth saving anymore. Not when he couldn't get to me in time, not when there was a Flightmare this close.

In a lightning-quick flash, the dragon swiped its front left claws across my chest. I staggered backwards a couple of steps from the force of the dragon's claws. I heard the ripping sound as my flight vest and shirt were ripped open, along with my chest. But I didn't feel it. Like the fear gripping my mind was somehow mercifully keeping my death painless.

_Toothless, please. Help._ The Flightmare simply watched as I slowly bled out, no change in its expression. Just a dragon's cold, calculating glare.

_Please. Not here_. I couldn't die like this. Not when there was nobody around to see it. I was gonna become like Finn Hofferson. Just a rumor. And there was gonna be a Night Fury in Berk who couldn't tell a soul about it.

The Flightmare briefly sniffed at the work it had done on my chest. It roared triumphantly, like it was claiming a kill. As it brought its head back down, it swiped again at my chest, knocking me off my feet. I collapsed like a ragdoll on the ground, unable to move or react.

The dragon brought its foot down on my right knee, smashing it into a thousand pieces. I tried to scream in pain, because that's what I was supposed to be feeling, but I only heard my knee snap. I watched as its front foot dug its claws into my neck. The dragon raked its foot from my neck to my waist, snapping through my ribcage like it was a bunch of twigs. The Flightmare leaned in close to my face and growled menacingly. Its beady, soulless eyes focused on me, making sure I knew to treasure the last breaths I was gonna take tonight.

As the dragon glared at me, waiting for me to die, I saw its mouth move, like it was speaking. "Hiccup," it said in a female's voice. I had no idea dragons could talk. But I still couldn't move, so I just thought it was a curiosity the Flightmare was letting me know about before it killed me.

"Hiccup," it said again. There was a sense of urgency behind its voice. I had a shattered knee, and this dragon sounded…worried?

Before I could even think about all this, I felt darkness slip over my eyes. I was dying from blood loss. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was the Flightmare glaring at me.

* * *

"HICCUP! Hiccup! Come on, look at me!"

My eyes slowly focused, like I had miraculously woken up from being on the edge of death. I saw two eyes wide in panic. For some cruel reason, the Flightmare wanted me awake before it finished me.

"HICCUP!"

I screamed in terror, knowing I was about to be dead. The two eyes I was looking at winced. I tried to squirm backwards when I realized I could actually move again. Looked around and saw a dragon's face a couple of inches away from mine.

"NO! PLEASE, DON'T KILL ME!" I shouted. I curled into a ball, trying to make myself as small as possible. Maybe the dragon would forget about me if I could stay still long enough.

"Hiccup, it's Toothless! Your dragon!" the voice shouted.

At the same time, I heard a low grunt. I felt a gentle nudge on my right shoulder, like someone was trying to get my attention. The low grunt sounded again, this time with more worry. Another nudge. And a long, desperate moan.

"Hiccup! We don't have any time left! _Come on_!" the voice shouted. I remembered this voice somehow. She sounded like she was about my age. And what was she saying about Toothless? I thought he had left me to die.

There was another low moan, followed by a nudge. Same shoulder, same urgency. I felt the breath from whoever it was on my neck. Caught a fishy smell, probably from the same breath. I knew it was a dragon who was nudging me. But I was bleeding to death from my chest. And my right leg was…

Hold on. I could feel my right leg. And it wasn't broken. Glanced down at my chest and saw it was intact. I looked up slightly to find two deep yellow-green eyes staring at me. A Night Fury.

_Toothless_.

Putting the rest of the puzzle together, the voice belonged to Astrid. What the Flightmare did to me was a hallucination. And it was an incredible hallucination at that.

"Am…am I dead?" I asked in confusion.

"My goodness, Hiccup. Try a little _less_ the next time you want to scare someone," Astrid shouted in sarcasm.

I slowly got to my feet, head still jangling. "How long…" I started.

"Less than a minute," Astrid interrupted. "The Flightmare's mist paralyzed you."

_Just like it did to Astrid_, I thought. It was more than enough time to snatch its prey, though.

"Where's the Flightmare?" I asked, still trying to figure out what was real.

"Um, Hiccup?" another voice said. It sounded like Fishlegs. "Oh, gods," he whispered. "We, uh, couldn't stop the Flightmare."

I felt my lips blanch when he said it. Turned around and saw the pallor in his face, probably matching my own and Astrid's. We failed. And Berk was going to be put through the exact same horror show as it was nine years ago.

Astrid took a deep breath and said quietly, "C'mon, let's get back home." She was surprisingly calm, considering five minutes ago, she couldn't think of anything other than stopping the Flightmare. Maybe she understood that there was no way to keep this dragon away from Berk. Maybe we weren't supposed to do anything about it except take shelter. Astrid began walking at a snail's pace toward Stormfly.

_We couldn't stop the Flightmare._ Just like three nights ago, when the drunken mob killed that Monstrous Nightmare. We couldn't stop that either. A thought swirled into shape in my mind when Fishlegs said it for me.

"D'you think the gods are, you know, angry with us for Arvendole's Festival?"

"They never sent the Flightmare the other nine years," Astrid pointed out.

"Yeah, but after those Vikings…um…sacrificed the Monstrous Nightmare…" Fishlegs trailed off, his voice quavering. He didn't want to finish the rest of his thought. But I knew exactly where he was trying to go.

Both Astrid and Fishlegs looked at me, like I had the answer. But I knew exactly as much as they did. I had no idea. Was it purely coincidence? Or was it deeper than that?

I silently put my hands on my knees and stared at nothing. I felt like I was gonna hurl, knowing the weight of the world was on my shoulders, and I couldn't do a thing about the Flightmare. It was too much for me to handle. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Toothless cautiously sneak into my vision. Turned to face him. He was staring at me with his deep yellow-green eyes. He had on his I'm-going-to-stay-by-your-side-no-matter-what look on his face. The same expression that could always calm me down, could always bring a little warmth to me. And this time was no different. Toothless was working his magic, just like he always did. He grunted quietly and nudged my arm gently with his snout, telling me everything was gonna be okay. He was gonna protect me.

I took a deep breath, collecting myself and looked east, back toward Berk. My gaze was following the river, which flowed from west-to-east. Something just looked...different about it. I took a step toward the water. Noticed the river had a bright blue glow, just like the sky above us.

"You noticed too?" Fishlegs asked. I didn't say a word because I was too focused on the water in front of me. Without waiting for a reply, Fishlegs said, "The Flightmare follows the river every time. I think it eats the algae in the water. Here, look," he said, brushing past me. He cupped his hand and scooped a small amount of glowing water out. A small streamer of bright blue algae followed his hand as he brought it back up to eye-level.

"So…you think the Flightmare is _protecting_ its food source? From us?" I asked.

"I think so," Fishlegs said. "It always comes from the same direction: west. And the river here flows west-to-east. And through Berk."

I stood there in shock. Not because something scared me. That had already happened. I couldn't believe the reason for the Flightmare showing up was so _simple_.

"Okay, we know _why_ it shows up," I stated. "Is there a reason why it doesn't show up more often?"

"Um," Fishlegs started. "I think I have an idea…"

Toothless roared in alarm, cutting Fishlegs off. He was looking east, toward home. Something must have caught his attention for him to sound like that. I followed his gaze and saw absolutely nothing of interest. The ground had a dull blue sheen, the river was bright blue, and Berk was silhouetted in the distance. Just like it had been all night.

"What is it, bud?" I asked. "What do you see?"

Toothless roared urgently again. He started bouncing slightly with a growl, growing impatient. He gazed at me a little more intently, making sure to get a stranglehold on my attention. After being around him for so long, I found out this was one of his little quirks. If he started bouncing like this, it was better just to let him explain rather than ask questions.

"Okay, bud, but I have no idea what you're on," I told him, completely forgetting about Fishlegs. I got onto his back and hooked in with my peg. I felt the impatience in Toothless as he took off, headed east.

Not two seconds later, I heard a roar that sounded like a Flightmare. My blood chilled, remembering what happened only a few minutes ago. Toothless banked to his left slightly, revealing a bright blue dragon behind a large boulder. I had no idea how in the world Toothless figured this one out. But I did know one thing: we could still stop this dragon. We _had_ to stop it.

The Flightmare was sifting through the river water, picking up algae as it went along. I saw it tense once Toothless and I came into view. The dragon tried to roar again, but this time it sounded like a slightly high-pitched gargle because of the algae and water in its mouth. The water in the dragon's mouth foamed slightly, which I thought was humorous.

Toothless dove to his right, getting between the Flightmare and Berk. He landed with a roar and shot a fireball at the dragon's front feet. The Flightmare roared back and lifted off the ground. It spewed blue fog at us, but both Toothless and I saw it coming.

"Toothless, up!" I shouted, yanking upward on his saddle. He jumped into the air and began advancing on the Flightmare. I watched as it roared again, but it didn't shoot its fog again. This time, the dragon turned around and started to head west. Away from Berk. Toward Fishlegs and Astrid. Toothless and I followed it, making sure we stayed between the dragon and Berk. Who knew a little confidence was all it took?

A few seconds later, I heard Stormfly cackle, warning Astrid about the approaching dragon. All of a sudden, there was a blinding flash in front of the Flightmare. The dragon seized and crashed into the turf, kinda like what happened to Toothless and Stormfly earlier.

But what really surprised me were two glowing dragons. There was a bright green Gronckle and a vivid orange Nadder. And on top of them were Fishlegs and Astrid. Toothless landed, panting. He was wheezing slightly, which told me he was getting dehydrated. Toothless lumbered over to the river and began drinking.

"Um…" I stammered in confusion, looking back at the brightly colored dragons. "Why…"

"The algae makes the Flightmare glow!" Fishlegs shouted in excitement.

I was idly wondering what Toothless's color was. He finished drinking and grunted in relief, just as his hide began glowing a deep blue. Bright enough to see without any trouble, but not as bright as the Flightmare. Toothless gave a short, panicked roar as he saw his skin changing colors.

"It's okay, bud," I said, keeping my hand on the back of his neck. He started to relax, knowing I was still here. I liked this look a little better than his normal jet-black, even though it was a massive disadvantage to his stealth.

Behind us, the Flightmare roared in anger. Toothless was stealing its food source. I felt him tense as we both heard the dragon. "Toothless, up!" I shouted again. I jerked upward on his saddle just as he lifted. As we turned around, the Flightmare locked eyes with Toothless and left the ground. There was a large patch of fog in the distance, just over the ocean.

"Get in the fog!" I shouted, pointing past the dragon. Toothless roared and banked around the Flightmare just as it shot more of its blue fog. Even though Toothless wasn't very stealthy, he still had a lot of speed behind him. I grinned, knowing the dragon's fog wasn't even close to us.

Toothless ducked into the low-hanging clouds just as the Flightmare turned and began heading in our direction. "Right here, bud," I whispered. Rolled my peg backwards, letting him hover for a moment. But with each wing beat, the fog receded, bringing the Flightmare more and more into our view.

_Great plan, Hiccup_, I thought sarcastically, rolling my eyes. The Flightmare folded its wings and pulled into a shallow dive, heading straight for Toothless. Based on the timing I had seen from it earlier, it was going to stop just short and use its mist against us again. And above the ocean was probably the worst place for me and Toothless to get locked up in fear.

As the Flightmare streaked in our direction, I shouted, "Plasma blast!" and pointed at the Flightmare. Toothless shot a blue fireball at the dragon's chest, where it connected and stopped the dragon dead in its flight. The dragon landed again and roared in frustration.

"Not so bad when you know what it's gonna do," I said to Toothless. Rubbed the top of his head, eliciting a contented murmur from him.

I watched as a green Gronckle and an orange Nadder took to the sky. Astrid was first to reach me on her dragon, followed by Fishlegs.

"You made _that_ look easy," Fishlegs observed. I smiled and nodded to him.

Astrid pointed at the Flightmare and shouted, "Guys, it's heading toward Berk!"

"C'mon, buddy, let's stop this dragon," I said to Toothless. He gave a short roar in approval and took off, trying to get ahead of the Flightmare.

I grinned wickedly as we had this dragon's movements down pat. Toothless roared as he wheeled in front of the dragon, forcing it to stop its progress again. It roared back just as Fishlegs and Astrid joined us. Our dragons crowded in front of the Flightmare, forming a wall it would have to negotiate to reach Berk.

The Flightmare recoiled in surprise as the ground below us brightened. I looked around and saw Meatlug and Stormfly were brighter than usual…well, if you count the last five minutes as usual.

"Hey! Hold together, and we can keep this dragon away from Berk!" Astrid shouted in realization.

"Keep it steady, bud," I said, moving my peg slightly forward. Toothless plowed ahead with Meatlug and Stormfly at a moderate pace. We were making sure to stay between the Flightmare and Berk. The dragon roared in irritation as we drove it backwards in the air.

"STOP! Pull up!" I shouted as I saw the Flightmare pull in a deep breath. All three of our dragons gained altitude as the dragon blew out more of its blue fog. Predictably, it missed with its salvo.

However, the dragon used its fog as a battering ram, clearing our three dragons out of the way. It dove underneath us and started yet again toward Berk. Like it was on a mission. Like it was fate that it was gonna reach Berk.

Astrid saw what the dragon was doing first. Stormfly whipped around and dove in front of the dragon, where it roared for the umpteenth time.

"I don't think we're gonna beat it this way," Fishlegs said to me as we headed over to help Astrid and Stormfly.

"How do we stop this thing!?" Astrid shouted as the dragon blew out more of its mist. Stormfly darted to her right, letting the mist clear before jamming herself between the Flightmare and Berk again.

An idea slammed itself into my head. "Fishlegs, you said it follows the river, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"What if we cut a new channel leading into the ocean? _Away _from Berk," I conjectured.

"Hiccup, you're a genius!" Astrid shouted. Just as the Flightmare pulled upward slightly. Even though Fishlegs and I were behind it, the reflection off of Astrid's face told me she and Stormfly were getting blinded again. Astrid's eyes widened in shock as she dragged her attention back to the Flightmare. Stormfly wasn't ready and seized mid-flight. She crashed into the ground, taking Astrid with her.


	7. Chapter 7

"ASTRID!" I shouted.

Oh man, here we go again. Why couldn't we just do something easy for once? Just one time, I wanted a dragon we could shoo away and be done with it.

I watched as Stormfly fell from twenty feet up, crashing into the ground with a visible cloud of dirt and grass. And to make it worse, I never saw Astrid stand.

"Come on, buddy!" I shouted to Toothless, who was still glowing deep blue. "Astrid needs help!" Toothless folded his wings and arched his back, getting ready for a dive when the Flightmare whipped in front of us and roared. It spread its wings and tried to blind Toothless. Like it did to Stormfly. "Toothless, DOWN!" I shouted, shoving downward on his saddle. Just as the Flightmare became a sun-like point of light, Toothless dropped underneath the dragon, avoiding its glare. For a moment, my sarcasm kicked in as I thought it was convenient we had practice with this dragon for the last thirty minutes.

The Flightmare roared again and dove after Toothless. We had no time to help Astrid or Stormfly, and if we bluffed, the dragon would just swoop in to claim its catch. This thing was way too smart to keep pulling the same move over and over. I had to come up with something crazy within the next split-second, or Astrid and Stormfly were probably dead.

We were maybe three seconds from reaching Stormfly when I rolled in with my peg and nudged his saddle to the right. _Toothless, I hope you trust me on this one,_ I thought. There was no time to tell him what to do. I just hoped he wouldn't balk, or else we'd be in trouble too.

Toothless leaned into the turn and whipped right. I rolled backwards with my peg to let him hover. Sure enough, he grunted in curiosity, but didn't object when he saw the Flightmare still on its downward track. As it neared us, I shouted, "Plasma blast!"

I felt the faint shock rolling through my right leg as Toothless unleashed a blue fireball, aimed directly at the Flightmare's side. I saw the look of surprise on its face as the fireball met its side before the dragon could react. The dragon cartwheeled downward, but a little off its original track. It crashed into the ground, kicking up another plume of dirt.

"Way to go, buddy!" I shouted. Toothless looked back at me with a knowing grunt. And one of his goofy "toothless" smiles. His mouth and eyes were glowing white, giving him an almost ghostly look. "C'mon! Let's get to Astrid!" He started on a dive again and landed maybe ten feet away from Stormfly. I dismounted his back and said, "Battle ready." Toothless immediately leaped between the Flightmare and Stormfly, making sure I had enough time to get Astrid out of this mess.

"Hiccup!" she shouted as a glowing blue Night Fury approached her. "Stormfly is gonna be fine! Get the Flightmare out of here!"

I nodded at her, not wanting to argue. We were running out of time and dragons. "FISHLEGS! WHERE ARE YOU!?" I shouted. I knew he and Meatlug were slow, but they couldn't be _this_ slow, could they?

A dull _thud_ behind me caught my attention. I turned around, finding Fishlegs atop a bright green Meatlug. "Can we please get all this over with?" he begged.

I launched into my plan without even asking if he was ready. "We'll will stay with Astrid and Stormfly. Find where the river gets closest to the ocean and have Meatlug block it off with rocks. Come back here, and Toothless and I will dig out a new channel for the water to flow away from Berk, while you guard."

"I…I don't know if I can do that. I mean, the Flightmare is gonna attack, isn't it?"

"Just do it," I said without emotion. "The sooner we can get this done, the sooner the Flightmare will leave."

"But won't the water in town dry up? I thought we didn't want that to happen."

I was losing my patience with Fishlegs. We couldn't keep arguing like this. "Okay, we can stay here, let the Flightmare do its thing and kill a bunch of people on Berk."

"All right! All right! I'm going," he said. He and Meatlug took off after about a second.

I figured Fishlegs and Meatlug would flee at the first sign of trouble, which was gonna happen quickly if I didn't keep the Flightmare distracted. We even trained for situations like this in the Academy. And Fishlegs still had yet to complete a goal for one of these scenarios.

I watched Meatlug following the river for a few seconds when she landed. Out of the corner of my eye, the Flightmare was slowly getting its bearings back while Toothless was watching it intently, making sure it didn't attack anyone or start heading toward Berk. And Astrid was still kneeling over Stormfly's head, trying to coax her dragon into standing up.

Meatlug pulled in a breath and a second later, a bright splash appeared in front of her. A small cloud of steam rose from the river as she pulled in another breath. Another splash and more steam.

The Flightmare roared in alarm, getting my attention. Toothless looked at me urgently and gave a short roar, alerting the Flightmare. If I had to guess, Toothless was gonna be the Flightmare's first target because the dragon saw him as the greatest threat.

The dragon roared again, leaping into the air and heading on a beeline, straight toward Fishlegs and Meatlug. Protecting its food source was priority, not following it. As I hooked in with my peg, I saw Meatlug tense. Seconds later, she took off, a silhouette of Fishlegs on her back. The Flightmare sped toward Meatlug and rammed head-first into her, sending Fishlegs spiraling off her back. He landed, rolled a few times and was still after that. Meatlug crashed into the ground with a loud groan about thirty feet away from Fishlegs.

"Oh, no," I whispered. The Flightmare resumed its track toward Berk, maybe about a half-mile out of town. I knew the time we spent distracting it was the perfect amount of time for people to start wondering whether anything was gonna happen or not. They'd come out of their houses exactly when the Flightmare would arrive and begin wreaking havoc. I assumed Stormfly and Astrid were still on the ground, and I knew it was gonna be a miracle if Fishlegs and his dragon could get back up within several seconds. Which left just me and Toothless. We were about fifty feet behind the Flightmare.

"Come on, buddy! It's just you and me!" I shouted. Toothless picked up the pace, and without waiting for my cue, he shot a fireball that exploded as it hit between the dragon's wing and side. It gave a muffled roar as it splashed into the river. It must not have been very deep over here, because there was barely any spray from the water beneath it.

Toothless landed about ten yards behind where the Flightmare had crash landed. A small amount of water was trickling over a gap in the makeshift dam Meatlug had created. "Fishlegs! You've gotta finish blocking the river!" I shouted in his general direction. Waited. No Fishlegs, no Meatlug.

"I…I can't," came a weak reply.

"Go to Meatlug," I said to Toothless from his saddle. He galloped over to her. Fishlegs had crawled to Meatlug and was cowering in fear next to her.

"I can't..." he said again. "It's g-gonna kill us."

"Yes you can," I said. "I need two more shots from Meatlug. It'll block the river and Toothless and I can cut a new channel."

"I…um…think Meatlug is out of shots," he said meekly.

I glanced at the Flightmare, who wasn't moving in the stream, which was formerly a decent-sized river. The water behind the partial dam Meatlug had created was now flooding over the land, creating a pool of glowing water.

"Fishlegs, you've got to try. No one else but you and Meatlug can do this. Even if Snotlout, Ruff and Tuff were here, you'd still be the only one who could save Berk."

"I can't," he said again, hiding his face slightly behind one of his hands. "I saw what happened to you when it shot you with that fog."

"That's just great!" I shouted. "We spent all this time practicing for something like this, and all it gets us is that you're scared! What are you gonna tell everyone else? 'Oh, I couldn't do what I needed to, so sorry you lost your family to the Flightmare. I'll try harder next time.' Is that what you wanna say to the entire town?"

"No, just…" Fishlegs took a deep breath and groaned in exasperation. "Fine. After we're finished blocking the river, I'm leaving."

"Not until Stormfly gets back up," I countered. But Fishlegs didn't hear me. He and Meatlug had already taken off, headed back toward the makeshift dam. And about twenty feet away from the Flightmare.

I remembered Astrid's comment about Stormfly being fine, she just needed a little time to gather herself. Toothless and I could do a better job of keeping the Flightmare at bay while near the dragon. We could keep it away from Berk, away from Fishlegs and away from Stormfly. And we could cut a new channel for the river to flow out to sea. Fishlegs, thankfully, had done something right and chosen a perfect spot in the river. We only had about fifteen feet to get to the coastline. There, the water would spill over the cliffs guarding the ocean, leading the Flightmare away from Berk.

"All right, Toothless," I said, jumping off his back. I guided him over to a point about five feet away from the dam Meatlug had created, where water was spilling over the river bank. Pointed to a spot across the river. "Plasma blast," I said quietly, not wanting to alert Fishlegs, Meatlug or (most importantly) the Flightmare.

Toothless shot a fireball exactly where I was pointing. The ground exploded in a spray of mud and water as the river began filling the cavity almost immediately. That blast got us about three feet closer. Twelve more to go.

"Again," I said, pointing slightly closer to the coastline. Toothless unleashed another fireball, where there was another hollow explosion. Nine feet left.

"Come on, buddy," I said. "Again." Another fireball. Another hollow explosion. Another three feet. Six feet left.

"Again." Toothless grunted and went through the motions of shooting a fireball, but nothing came out. He had reached his shot limit. And strangely enough, I still had no idea what the shot limit for a Night Fury was. "Come on, Toothless, you can do this," I encouraged. He tried one more time. Same result. It looked like he was launching a fireball, except nothing came out of his mouth. And we still had six feet left. Toothless looked at me as if to say he was sorry.

I heard a high-pitched roar come from the Flightmare, alerting me and Toothless. Glanced in its direction, where it had righted itself. And locked eyes with Toothless. "Oh, no," I mumbled. Toothless was out of shots. There was no way he could defend us against the neon-blue dragon about twenty feet away. And to make it worse, I couldn't see Fishlegs or Meatlug.

A hoarse roar sounded from somewhere in between Toothless and the Flightmare. It sounded like a Gronckle, but I could only make out a silhouette. "Get 'im!" Fishlegs shouted. A bright orange flash appeared as a large fireball slammed into the Flightmare's chest, sending it toppling back to the ground. That silhouette looked way too much like a rock, but it was Meatlug.

"I thought you, uh…" I started.

"I taught her how to do that," Fishlegs said with an inflection in his voice that sounded like an ear-splitting grin.

"How to look like a rock?" I asked. "I thought Gronckles were already good at that."

Fishlegs ambled into view, the bright-colored water reflecting off his skin. He had a huge smile on his face. "No, how to calm down like that," he corrected. "Meatlug was really nervous the entire time. The same thing happened when we did that stealth drill earlier today." His dragon waddled forward and nudged him in the back with her snout.

"That's really good, Fishlegs," I said. He beamed. "Look, I need you to bring Astrid and Stormfly…"

"Did someone say my name?" Astrid shouted. Fishlegs jumped when she said that. She rode in on Stormfly, who was beginning to lose her orange color. The effects of the water were wearing off. Toothless, however, was still his vibrant blue that I was beginning to really appreciate.

"Um, Astrid!" I said, trying to get over my loss for words. "Okay, I'll make it quick. I need you and Stormfly to finish cutting this channel toward the ocean." I pointed in its direction as Astrid gave me a confused look.

"What channel?" she asked. "It looks like a pond here." I whipped around, noticing the water was beginning to spill over the dam and head toward Berk again. Not good.

Without thinking, I splashed my way into the standing water. A few steps in, I lost my footing because of the drop from the river bank. Resurfaced, and started feeling my way around, searching for the channel. My peg found it, and I stepped forward. "This way!" I shouted, pointing over my head and toward the coast. "Toothless is out of shots." I waded forward until my right foot smacked into a wall. Climbed out and said, "This is as far as we got. Can you and Stormfly finish it?" Just to make sure, I glanced at the Flightmare. Still not moving, but it was breathing. For some reason, I didn't want to kill it, just send it away from here. For good.

"Easily," she said. "Just stay out of the way. Fire won't work here."

I clambered out as Astrid gave Stormfly the command to extend her tail spikes. Stormfly swooped in low and dragged her tail through the water, sending up rooster tails of bright blue water and mud. A small trickle of water began flowing over the cliff.

"I think one more time oughta do it!" I called. Astrid and Stormfly banked around and got ready for another swipe at the ground. Astrid's dragon started into a shallow dive just as the Flightmare leaped in front of them and pulled in a breath. A small amount of fog came out of its mouth as Toothless rammed it in the side with his head, causing the dragon to tumble about ten feet away. Astrid yelped in surprise, as all of this happened within a second. Toothless roared at the Flightmare, standing almost exactly where Stormfly was going to start digging.

"Get Toothless out of there!" Astrid shouted as Stormfly backed up for another shot at the channel.

I ran over to Toothless, who was still on edge. "C'mon, buddy, follow me," I said calmly, trying to guide him away from the Flightmare and Stormfly's path. Toothless never looked at me, just intensified his growling. I had to think of something, because the Flightmare wasn't going to stay down for long, even with all the abuse we had put it through. "C'mon, Toothless," I said again, putting my hand on the back of his neck. I was trying not to alert him like I did when the battle horn first sounded this evening, but Toothless jumped anyway. He wanted a piece of whoever had startled him so much.

Instead of panicking, I knew I could sacrifice a few seconds and a little bit of sanity with what I had in mind. Toothless shrieked as he jumped and whirled in my direction. I leaped backward, away from him, trying to guide him away from Astrid's path. I put my arms up like I was going to stop a charging yak and thought, _This is stupid, Hiccup_. I made direct eye contact with Toothless, telling him I was ready to fight. He jumped straight for me as I rolled onto my back.

"Hiccup, are you crazy!?" Astrid shouted.

"Just finish it!" I shouted back. As Toothless's head filled my vision, I heard the dragging sound of Stormfly's tail pulling through the water and mud. Toothless snarled at my face, his teeth mere inches away from my nose. I had to be crazy and lure him into a fight so that we could finish the channel. We had no time to waste, and this solution, no matter how suicidal, was the first one that popped into my head. It was stupid "Viking sense" at work.

Toothless snapped his teeth a few times in front of my face, telling me he was ready to kill me at any moment. And I felt just as scared as when he tackled me earlier tonight. Even though this time, what I did was intentional.

"It's okay, bud. It's me," I said calmly, placing my left hand on Toothless's leg. He growled directly into my face, then his eyes turned from angry to realization. He had tackled me twice and was ready to kill me both times. Although this time, I kinda deserved it.

I let Toothless get over himself again, keeping my hand on his front leg, letting him know I was here. Letting him know he was gonna be okay. He backed away from me slowly. I stood up and wrapped his neck in a hug and said, "I'm sorry bud." He probably had no idea what I was apologizing for, especially when he was in his wild mode. But I felt like it needed to be said. I pulled away from him slightly and saw his ghostlike eyes staring at me in apology. "It's okay, Toothless," I said quietly, stroking his cheek.

"I thought I told you to try a little _less_ when you want to scare someone," Astrid said to me as Stormfly landed. Her dragon began using its mouth and the ground to clean her tail. Can't forget, Deadly Nadders are as vain as they are, well, deadly. It looked like Stormfly was about to work herself into a panic as she tried to clean the mud off her tail.

"Yeah, well, I don't think I had a whole lot of choice on that one," I said. "Is the channel ready?" She nodded. "Where's the Flightmare…yeah, don't answer that," I said as I caught myself. My hand met my forehead.

"Hiccup, why do you look for things with your mouth?" Astrid said with a wry grin.

The Flightmare was about twenty feet upriver of the channel. There were only a few small puddles of water left downstream of Meatlug's dam. And the pond that had formed while we were cutting the channel was almost gone too. We just needed for the dragon to wake up, see the river and follow it.

I let Toothless go, and he loped over to the channel to drink. Great. Just the last thing we needed. If the Flightmare got its senses back and saw Toothless, we'd be in huge trouble. But luckily, Toothless finished and grunted at me, walking back in my direction. He rubbed underneath my right arm, asking for attention, like there was nothing pressing at the moment. And because he knew exactly how to break my will, I gave in. I knuckled gently into the top of his head as he murmured in contentment. And not thirty feet away, there was a dangerous wild dragon who was gonna wake up at any moment.

After maybe two minutes, the Flightmare stirred with a groan. It righted itself and lumbered to the river, unmindful of the dam we had just built. Unmindful of the new channel that had been cut to keep it away from Berk. The dragon began drinking from the river as Toothless tensed and growled audibly. It didn't sound loud enough to reach the dragon, but I wasn't gonna take any chances right now. I was too exhausted from lack of sleep and the last thirty minutes to ask for another fight.

"It's okay, bud," I said, stepping directly between him and the Flightmare. I scratched gently underneath his chin. Toothless shut his eyes and sighed in relaxation. I turned slightly, trying to get his vision and attention away from the Flightmare. Astrid and Fishlegs followed my lead and backed their dragons away from the river, allowing the Flightmare to follow the water, just like it always did.

The Flightmare glanced at the direction the water was flowing and took off. As it neared the channel, it turned left and headed out to sea, following the newly mixed brackish water that was glowing. I sighed in relief, happy this little chapter was over now.

As the Flightmare flew away from us, Astrid raised her arms in triumph and shouted, "YEAH! TAKE _THAT_ YOU…!" Toothless, probably excited from Astrid shouting like that, roared as she shouted that last word. Her voice was drowned out because of Toothless, but I had at least some idea of what she was saying.

We stood there in silence, letting Arvendole's Fire bathe us in a blue glow. After a few minutes, Fishlegs asked, "So, take care of the dam now or wait for morning?"

"Morning," I said almost immediately. "I just wanna get some sleep right now."

"I agree," Astrid said. She found Stormfly, who was still preening.

Fishlegs got on Meatlug's back.

"C'mon, bud, let's get home," I said. I climbed onto Toothless's saddle, clicked in with my peg, and we took off, headed east. Following the now-empty river bed.


	8. Chapter 8

"What're ya gonna do now that the Flightmare is gone for good?" Fishlegs asked me from my right.

I glanced in his direction, seeing him and his Gronckle illuminated by a soft blue glow. Blue, like from the sky. Blue, like from Toothless. I thought Toothless looked beautiful this way. "Oh, I don't know. Probably spend the next year catching up on sleep."

In the distance, I saw a few windows illuminated by dancing firelight. Glanced upward. Arvendole's Fire was still in full-force, but it just felt peaceful now.

"It's so pretty tonight," Astrid said. "You two can get some rest. I'm gonna spend the night outside on my back just watching."

If I wasn't so tired, and if there wasn't this little problem called a Flightmare, I'd have done the same thing. It was almost hypnotic watching the patterns swirl into each other. "Yeah," I said. "You can do that. I'll watch from my window with Toothless next to me." I took a deep breath and relaxed, knowing we were headed home. And Berk was safe for another few years or so.

"Hey, do you know if there is anything in the Book of Dragons about the Flightmare?" Astrid asked randomly.

"Only the path it follows," Fishlegs said almost immediately. "I was thinking about writing how to keep it away from Berk when Arvendole's Fire happens."

"If you're doing that tonight, you're on your own," I said. "Astrid's gonna be busy watching the sky, and I'm gonna be busy sleeping." Fishlegs gave a small laugh.

Toothless grunted and tilted slightly, trying to get my attention. "Mm. Sorry…"

I couldn't get the last word out. My head slammed into the back of his neck as I felt him suddenly change directions in his flight. It took me a split-second to realize something had crashed into him. But there was no light around us, so the Flightmare hadn't returned. Time froze for an instant as my head snapped backwards. The muscles in my neck seized, trying to hold against the sudden impact from whatever had hit Toothless.

"HICCUP!" Astrid shouted.

Toothless let out a long moan as we lost altitude. He crashed into the ground just inside the village, landing on his left side. He bounced about a foot in the air and rolled over to his right side, his wings crumpling underneath his body. I heard him screech in pain as I was thrown from his saddle. I tumbled about thirty feet and ended up slamming into a yak. The yak bellowed and took off, somehow miraculously missing my head with its kick. Whoever had shot us definitely had good aim.

I groaned in pain and shock, trying to focus, but all I could make out were blurry points of light. There were no shapes, no definition to anything. Somehow, I got to my hands and knees and saw a soft blue light in the distance. Couldn't tell if it was ten feet or a thousand feet away, but I knew that was Toothless. I stood up and immediately collapsed to my left with another groan. My head slammed into the ground, completely disorienting me. Panting, I felt around for what had tripped me and felt nothing. Literally, nothing.

My peg was gone. I had only half of a left leg remaining. And that blue light in the distance looked like it was receding. Somehow, I had to get to it. Regardless of what was gonna happen, I knew Toothless was in trouble.

On my hands and knees, I moved forward, continually falling from lack of coordination. I couldn't tell what was in front of me, so I kept my focus on the blue form somewhere in the distance. I hadn't gotten more than a few movements before the pain became too intense. I screamed out, rolling to the ground, clutching the sides of my head. I knew Toothless was helpless, wherever he was, but the pain wouldn't let me get near him.

As I cried out, the pain wrenched my stomach into a knot. I hurled into the grass, not even trying to keep it off my chest. After a couple of waves, I began tasting blood in my mouth, just as I heard footsteps running in my direction. I heard the swishing of the grass around me get louder before Astrid shouted, "Hiccup!"

I curled into a ball, unable to move anymore. The pain was unbearable, and I just wanted to die right here. Just end it all, because I wasn't sure if I could live another minute like this. Especially if they were gonna kill Toothless.

"Hiccup! Oh, man…" she said. I heard a worried quaver in her voice. "Hiccup, come on." She wrapped her arms around my chest, unmindful of what I had just done, and lifted me gently.

The pain in my head went from unbearable to pure agony as she stood up. I couldn't even make a sound, for fear of worsening what was going on in my head. I had no idea someone could suffer a death this torturous.

Astrid continued half-dragging, half-carrying me to wherever she wanted to go, walking backwards. My left knee hit something hard, dragging over a jagged edge, sending a new wave of pain through me. I screamed out, and doubled over again, losing contact with Astrid.

Without saying a word, she simply bent down again and wrapped her arms across my chest, just like last time. She started walking again. Every step sent a new wave of agony through my body.

_Just leave me here,_ I thought. _I can't do this_. But all I could manage was a whimper.

With a final heave, Astrid lunged toward something. Panting, she said, "Stay here. Stay with Toothless." She put me chest-down across the side of his neck, filling my vision with his deep blue glow. Somehow, either being with my dragon or the light from his skin was enough to bring the pain back to barely tolerable. I heard a loud murmur from some distance, like it was a bunch of people ready to kill something. Kinda like that riot that happened a couple of nights ago.

"FISHLEGS! GET OVER HERE!" Astrid shouted. I didn't hear anything from him, but I hoped he was gonna help Astrid keep the riot away. Because I knew they were headed for Toothless. There was no way they'd understand the river gives dragons a color. No way they'd understand Toothless looks almost exactly like the Flightmare when he's glowing. I figured he was gonna be dead soon. And there was nothing in the world I could do to stop it. I just hoped Astrid and Fishlegs would buy us enough time for the color to wear off.

"Gobber, stop!" Astrid shouted.

I heard Gobber next. "Astrid, you are _not_ gonna protect this dragon! Out of the way, now!" He grunted and shoved her aside. I heard someone land hard on the ground and immediately scramble back up.

"YOU SHOT HIM!"

"Yeah, I know! I shot this dragon so it wouldn't terrorize us again!"

"_THAT'S TOOTHLESS!_"

"Since when does 'Toothless' have blue skin!?" another person shouted, slurring my dragon's name. It sounded like Snotlout.

"Astrid, I have no idea what you're getting at, but this is a Flightmare!" Gobber shouted. "I'm not gonna tell you again, stay out of the way!"

"No!" I heard her take a step and smack Gobber across the face. "If you wanna kill him, you have to kill me first."

"Quit being stupid!" Snotlout shouted. "You don't see that our sacrifice worked!? It brought the Flightmare right here for us to kill it!"

Astrid grunted. A split-second later, I heard her and Snotlout land on the ground. She had just tackled him, trying to protect me and Toothless. Gobber took advantage of her distraction and began loping toward us. I heard the alternating _pat-clunk_ sound of his footsteps as he approached.

_Please, don't do it_, I thought. I tried to get the words out, but the connection between my brain and my mouth was gone.

"Hiccup, what are you doing? Get off the Flightmare!" Gobber shouted.

I didn't move. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't do it. "N-no…" I moaned weakly.

"C'mon, OFF!" he shouted, shoving me off of Toothless. "I don't understand why you took so long to play with this dragon only to bring it here. We coulda killed it thirty minutes ago."

"STORMFLY, SPINE SHOT!" Astrid shouted. I heard her dragon whirl a few tail spines at Gobber. One of them hit whatever prosthetic weapon he had with a loud _clank_. Gobber yelped as his arm was knocked to the side.

"What was that for!?" he shouted. "You're gonna let the Flightmare live and terrorize us again!?"

"Uh, Gobber?" It was Ruffnut. "I think that's Toothless."

"WHY DOES EVERYONE THINK THIS DRAGON IS TOOTHLESS!?" he shouted to anyone who could hear him. "TOOTHLESS ISN'T BLUE! There is no way I'm gonna let a Flightmare live after it's killed so many people here!"

There was a silent pause as I crawled in agony toward Toothless again. I draped myself over his neck with a pained whimper, trying my hardest to protect him. My left knee was on fire more than anywhere else on my body. Including my head. It must have been split open from that rock.

"Hiccup, I told you to stay off of that dragon!"

"Get him off the dragon! I want to see its eyes before I kill it!" a voice rang out. It sounded like my dad. He came stomping up to me and Toothless and shouted, "Hiccup, what are you doing!?"

"No…" I mumbled again. "P-please…no…" It was all I could say.

"I asked the exact same thing," Snotlout said in agreement. "Hiccup won't talk, he just crawls back and forth, whining about something."

"Somebody get him off of the dragon. And hold him."

"STOICK! NO!" Astrid shouted. She ran between him and Toothless. "Please," she begged. "Don't kill Toothless."

"FOR THE LAST TIME, THAT IS NOT TOOTHLESS!" Gobber shouted.

My dad pushed past her and shoved me off of Toothless, unmindful of the pain I was going through. Everyone except for Astrid and me were concerned about this blue dragon I was trying to protect. They were so narrow in their focus that they had no idea I was in just as much pain as Toothless. They had no idea what they had just really done.

I collapsed like a ragdoll on my back after my dad had shoved me. He caught a glimpse of my face and saw I was bleeding from my nose and mouth. My face wasn't even recognizable anymore. I opened my eyes slightly and saw a blurry figure with a red beard standing over me. "N-no…" I whispered.

"Hiccup, what happened!?" he shouted.

"I'm telling you, Stoick, that's from the Flightmare. It must have made Hiccup and Astrid go crazy or something," Gobber said.

"Speak to me, son! What happened?" he said again, shaking my shoulders gently. I vomited again, blood oozing out of my mouth.

"GOBBER! NO!" Astrid shouted, breaking my dad's concentration. Gobber must have made another move to kill Toothless. She jumped between Gobber and Toothless again just as my dad left my side.

Somehow, I managed to roll to my side, making sure I wasn't gonna drown in my own blood. I knew I had to delay them from killing Toothless, and the only way I could do that was to stay between them and my dragon. Astrid wasn't gonna keep them away forever.

"Make sure she stays out of the way. Just keep her there while I kill the Flightmare," my dad told Gobber.

Out of nowhere, I heard Fishlegs shout, "Meatlug, HUG!" A raspy snarl filled my ears as his Gronckle tackled my dad and pinned him to the ground.

Gobber threw Astrid to the side and began running toward Toothless, ready to kill him just as Fishlegs got in front of him. "Fishlegs, do you know what you've just done!?" he shouted.

"Yeah, I stopped Stoick from killing Hiccup's dragon," he said objectively.

"THIS IS NOT TOOTHLESS!" Gobber shouted again.

I heard my dad grunt as he got out of Meatlug's grasp. He was probably the only person I knew of, possibly excepting Alvin the Treacherous, who could do that.

I took advantage of the distraction Fishlegs had provided and slid in agony toward the diffuse blue light in front of me. With a final lunge, I collapsed over Toothless's side again, silently crying. I felt tears running down my face along with the blood dripping from my nose and mouth, seeing it collect on Toothless's skin. It formed a dark spot where it collected, blocking out a small portion of his glowing hide.

"Are you kidding me!?" Gobber shouted as he saw me draped over Toothless's side again. "Hiccup, why are you so willing to die for this dragon?" He turned to Astrid without waiting for an answer and shouted, "And why are you helping him? This is the dragon that killed your uncle!"

"Oh, yeah," Snotlout said tauntingly. "The one that killed 'Fearless' Finn Hofferson."

"NO IT'S NOT!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Why do you think Hiccup's willing to give his life for this dragon!?" Fishlegs chimed in.

"Because that's what the Flightmare does!" Snotlout shouted. "It gets inside your head before it kills…um…" He paused.

The deep blue color that was filling my eyes slowly began to fade. Over the course of about fifteen seconds, Toothless's hide returned to its jet-black color. I only saw the occasional diffuse reflection of a fire here and there.

A hush fell over the small crowd after Toothless lost his color from the river. My dad was the first one to say something.

"H-Hic…" He collapsed to his knees, unable to finish saying my name. A pall of silence fell over the small crowd around Toothless and me.

I listened to Toothless breathing, even though his breaths were shallow. I heard and felt his heart beat. And I knew I had protected him. No…_we_ had protected him. Me, Astrid and Fishlegs. It cost me my leg again. It cost me immeasurable pain. But I was there for him when he needed me the most.

My vision was fading in and out of blurriness and blindness as I finally slumped over Toothless. I managed another weak "No," trying to get the people around me to understand they weren't to touch my dragon. Even though my body was trying to quit, I was trying my hardest not to let it. Not when I had to protect Toothless. Even if it only meant staying on top of his side.

It didn't take long before my body gave up anyway. I slumped over my dragon and passed out, leaving the Vikings to realize what they had just done to me and Toothless.


	9. Chapter 9

"Hiccup. Time to get up. Here, take your peg." My dad put the metal peg I had lost last night on the side of my bed. Somehow, through a miracle, someone had found it completely untouched. It was in pristine condition.

Blearily, I opened my eyes, rubbing on them to wake up. Fumbled around with the catch I designed for the peg a couple months ago and cinched it on my knee. I saw the bottom of my knee was cut open but scabbed over. And I didn't feel a thing as I stood up. Toothless must have gotten to my knee while I was passed out.

"H-how long was I out?" I mumbled as I walked down the stairs.

My dad shrugged. "Maybe four or five hours."

I did a double-take as I progressed down the stairs. "That's it?" He nodded. Without thinking, I stepped on the fifth step. The one that always makes some kind of sound, even if a feather lands on it. But today, when I landed dead in the middle of it, there was no sound. Like it had been fixed overnight. I thought that was curious, but didn't stop for too long because my dad looked a little anxious today.

"We don't have much time left. Come on, son, we need to hurry."

"Hurry for what?" I asked, reaching the ground floor.

"Toothless is still hurt. Nobody knows what to do with him. Maybe you can help."

The idea of Toothless healing my knee took flight, and that was that. With such a large wound, it would have taken a few days, if not longer, to heal enough for me to barely walk again. I thought about it for a little as I walked out of the house behind my dad. The injury must not have been as bad as I thought.

My dad started walking and turned right at the plaza. Toward the forest, if you walked long enough. But Toothless was to our left. Fishlegs, Astrid and I had kept the Vikings from killing him in the yak pasture at the western edge of the village.

"Um, Dad? Isn't Toothless behind us?" I asked.

"No. After we got you indoors last night, we moved him to the cove."

I was about to ask why when I realized my dad probably didn't know how to get Toothless in there. The only way he could enter was from the air.

We had gotten to the eastern edge of the village and turned slightly left to go into the forest when I asked, "How did you get him in there?"

"You didn't know?" he asked glancing back at me. I gave him a blank look. "There's a back entrance big enough for him. He's down on the bottom level, near the stream."

I knew that cove better than anyone here. And if there was a "back entrance," Toothless would have found it almost immediately when he was first trying to escape. Before he became my friend.

We marched into the forest, my dad picking up the pace slightly. I was struggling to keep up because my head started throbbing again. It was difficult to distinguish all of the trees and small undulations in the landscape when everything was swimming just a little bit. But through all of this mess, my left knee was still painless.

My dad stopped and motioned me through a narrow crevasse in the boulders guarding the cove. "You first." I had never seen this entrance, so maybe he was right. Maybe there _was_ a second way into this area. I guessed there were things on this island I still didn't know about.

After walking through that gap, there was a large boulder blocking my view of the cove. I moved to my left and saw Toothless in the center of the cove, in a position that eerily reminded me of the first day I had found him. After shooting him down with Mangler.

My heart rate quickened, seeing a stark reminder of how I had crippled my dragon. I didn't even think about what a blessing that was for both of us. We had been through so much together, defending Berk from wild and dangerous dragons, keeping Outcasts and Berserkers away, but all I could think of now was just how dreadful it felt to see Toothless like that again.

I looked down and found a narrow walkway, similar to the one I used on the other side of the cove. Followed it down and jumped about five feet to the ground. The lake was between me and Toothless, so I ran around it, trying my hardest to find a way to my dragon.

I was maybe ten feet away from him when I felt a chill on the back of my neck.

"Glad you could join us, 'Iccup," a raspy voice said from behind me. I whirled around to find none other than Alvin the Treacherous staring at me with a wicked grin.

My eyes widened in fear as my feet took root and held me firmly to my little patch of ground. I glanced slightly to my right, finding my dad striding around the lake, headed in our direction. Gulped. In the back of my mind, I was wondering why in the world my dad didn't simply bring Toothless home. I realized it had something to do with Alvin.

"You did well, Stoick," Alvin rasped. I felt all the color drain from my face. My dad simply nodded. Alvin looked at me with another sadistic grin. Walked around me. And brandished a dagger that was maybe a foot and a half long. And serrated on one side. "'Iccup, why don't you turn around?" he said slowly. "I think you'll want to see this."

I couldn't move. Not when I was stuck in fear. Not when Toothless was still unresponsive. And not when Alvin was about five feet away from him. "Turn around, son," my dad said, grasping my shoulders. He pushed me around so that I was facing Alvin with his dagger.

"It's so nice to finally have an alliance with Berk," Alvin said slowly, making sure I heard every syllable with absolute clarity. "I was beginning to worry that I might have to destroy this island if Stoick hadn't helped. Makes it easier than fighting each other, doesn't it?" he asked. My dad simply nodded again.

My eyes widened further, if that was possible, as Alvin slowly approached Toothless. He sneered at me the entire way. I could do nothing but watch him.

"But I think one thing we agreed on, Stoick," he continued. "Was fairness. Nobody should have any privileges over anybody else." He got down on one knee about a foot away from Toothless's chest. "And that includes people with rare dragons." He placed a hand on the side of Toothless's chest.

"No…" I whispered. Couldn't say anything louder because I was completely frozen in fear. Alvin was gonna kill Toothless. _With my dad's permission_.

Alvin looked at me with a leer one more time and turned back to Toothless. Without warning, he plunged his knife directly into Toothless's chest. Toothless let out a screech that could have turned any man to stone, his mouth bright red from the blood already flowing through his throat. Alvin took his hand off the knife he used to stab Toothless, and it was just as red.

"You should enjoy your last moments with your dragon, 'Iccup," Alvin rasped with a wicked grin. He stood up, walked toward me and placed his bloodied hand on my back. Pushed me toward Toothless.

I stumbled forward, my legs somehow working to keep me upright. Tears were streaming down my face, turning my vision into a nondescript blur. I couldn't believe my dad allied with the Outcasts. Couldn't believe he'd let Alvin kill my dragon without so much as a second thought. I collapsed on my knees in grief, holding Toothless's head in my hands. Watching him bleed around the knife in his chest. Toothless looked at me with a pained moan, blood dribbling out of the corners of his mouth, and then his eyes went glassy.

He was dead.

"Toothless…" I whispered. "Toothless, no…" I closed my eyes and put my head down, against his. And lost all feeling. Everything went black and stayed that way.

* * *

"AAAH!"

I bolted up to a sitting position, panting heavily and drenched in a cold sweat. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might leap out of my chest soon. Every time it pounded, I felt a throbbing pain in my head and knee.

I looked around for a second, seeing a small opening above me, with a lazy blue glow drifting in the sky. "Toothless…" I whispered. Searched around on my bed for my peg that should have been next to me, but couldn't find it. "Toothless…" I whispered again. "Oh, gods…Toothless…"

My head was on fire, but I couldn't focus on it, not when Toothless was about to die in the cove. Or worse yet, he was already dead. I was gonna crawl there if I needed to.

I collapsed on the floor from my bed with a loud groan and crawled in agony toward the staircase. Looked down into the living area and saw a couple blurry figures, illuminated by a soft yellow glow from a hearth. One of them was sitting at a table. Waiting for me to show up so I could watch Toothless die. "Oh gods…" I mumbled again. I tried to swallow, but my chest convulsed, sending it back up with a little bit of a sour taste. I knew I was going to throw up soon, but I couldn't wait for it to happen. Especially when I saw a diffuse reflection off of a jet-black hide. Whoever was sitting at the table was maybe ten feet away from my dragon. "Toothless…" I whispered in emergency. I couldn't keep from alerting whoever was at the table, so I just decided to make a mad dash for it. To keep that person from taking my dragon to the cove.

I began crawling down the stairs, my head on fire. Heard the fifth step let out a high-pitched creak as I got past it. I knew my left knee was bleeding because I felt the air hitting it, feeling it burn just enough to send more agony through me as I turned and lunged past the table for Toothless. I must have left a trail of blood from my bed to him. The person sitting there said something, but I didn't really hear it. I couldn't even tell who it was.

I quickly wrapped my arms around Toothless's neck, holding onto him like my life depended on it. Buried my face into his neck and cried.

"Easy, Hiccup," a girl's voice said. It sounded like Astrid. "Geez, you were having a ridiculous nightmare."

I simply ignored her and continued holding onto Toothless, oblivious to the pain I was experiencing in my head and knee. Pulled in a sharp gasp of air that sent a new wave of agony through my head.

"Hiccup, let him go. You're gonna choke him."

"I-I can't…"

"It's okay, Hiccup," she said. "Nobody's gonna hurt Toothless. Alvin's not here."

I tried to ignore her again. Tried to pretend like it was just me and Toothless against the world. But after a couple of seconds, my mind slowed down just enough to process what Astrid just told me. _Alvin's not here._ My arms relaxed. But I kept my face buried against Toothless's neck, feeling like he was gonna protect me somehow. Toothless took a deep breath and sighed in his sleep.

I felt Astrid put her hand lightly on my shoulder. "Everybody's gonna be fine."

"Goaway," I said, my speech slurring in delirium. I adjusted my grip around Toothless's neck, pulling closer to him. I still couldn't get rid of the feeling that somebody in Berk was bent on killing him. "Jus' goaway."

"Can't," she said. "Your dad told me to stay here with you."

Astrid said something else, but I couldn't understand it. I was gonna ask her to repeat it when the pain closed around me again. For the second time tonight, I fell asleep holding onto Toothless for dear life.

* * *

"What is he doing down here?" my dad asked. I heard the door shut as he walked in. I stirred with a quiet groan, realizing I had fallen asleep trying to protect Toothless.

"Hiccup had some kind of nightmare and dragged himself over there," Astrid said. "I told him earlier that he needs to learn how to try less when he wants to scare someone."

My dad gave a short, soft laugh before saying, "I don't think it'll work. He's been good at that since he was born."

"C'mon, sleepyhead," Astrid said after a short pause. "I know you're awake."

I took a deep breath and pulled slightly away from Toothless, my hips groaning in pain just as much as my head and knee were. But this was because of soreness, not from injury. I apparently hadn't moved all night, well, at least since I had dragged myself over to Toothless. I tried to open my eyes, but they were glued shut. Ripped them open with my fingers, grunting in pain. It was probably the only time in my life I could give the excuse that my eyelashes hurt. I blinked a few times, making sure everything was okay before rocking back to a sitting position to take the pressure off my left knee. Looked around, seeing my dad and Astrid through slightly blurry vision this time.

"That's good enough," my dad said. He crouched near my knee and wrapped it in soft leather coated with some kind of ointment. I groaned with my eyes tightly shut as the pain lanced up my leg.

I opened my eyes just as the door swung open, silhouetting a large figure holding a hook in his left hand. I groaned again, this time in fear, and tried to scoot backwards in an attempt to get a hold of Toothless. My back bumped into his wing, and I turned to my right, finding his head. Wrapped his neck in a protective hug, trying to keep whoever had that hook away. I just knew he was gonna kill Toothless.

"No…please…d-don't kill him," I stammered, hoping whoever it was would just leave.

"Stoick, what has gotten into Hiccup?" he asked. It sounded like Gobber. Just the person I didn't want. Him and Snotlout. Both of them were trying to convince everyone else in Berk that Toothless was the Flightmare. I assumed Gobber was also the reason we were shot down.

"Your knee is never going to heal if you keep doing that," my dad pointed out.

"Just make him go away," I said, burying my face into the back of Toothless's neck again.

"He'll get his sanity back eventually," Astrid said with indifference.

I heard the _pat-clunk_ of Gobber's footsteps. They stopped a couple feet away. I inched closer to Toothless, making sure Gobber knew I was gonna protect him.

"Hiccup," he said quietly. "I'm…I'm sorry." He bent down and put something metallic on the floor next to my feet. Backed up and left the house without another word. The door closed behind him, leaving me holding onto Toothless with Astrid and my dad looking on.

I slowly let go of my dragon and looked at what Gobber had put next to my feet. It was my peg. My link to Toothless. It was severely bent, almost looking like a nutcracker. I sighed. It wasn't like I was gonna use it immediately, not with my left knee the way it was. But I felt the pang of despair shoot through my chest upon seeing the condition of my peg. I didn't feel horrible for myself. I felt horrible for Toothless, knowing it was going to be longer than just a few days or so before we could fly again. If ever.

I picked up the peg and gently tried to bend it back into shape with my hands. Just seeing if some miracle was gonna happen. I heard a creak, and the peg snapped, leaving me with a small "foot" in one hand and a spring-loaded piece in the other. My shoulders slumped in defeat. This was too much for me to handle. I dropped the pieces of the peg on the floor and hugged Toothless again. The only thing I had to be grateful for was my dragon. He had survived this ordeal too, but that was it. I had no idea how badly he was injured or if he'd even be able to fly again. If _we'd_ ever be able to fly again. I had no idea if we'd ever get back to normal in our lives.

"Oh, no you don't," Astrid said to me. "You're not giving up."

She was right, but all this happened so fast. I felt like I had to fix everything within the next five minutes, and I had no idea where to start.

"I can't do this," I said, holding onto Toothless's neck.

"Yes, you can," she said. "_We_ can. I'll help you make it right again."

My dad sighed and said, "Just help me keep watch over Hiccup. Make sure he doesn't hurt himself protecting Toothless. I'll be back." He opened the door and walked out. Closed it after he left.

I kept holding onto Toothless, wishing the world would disappear. Wishing he would wake up soon without any problems or injuries. Wishing my peg would fix itself. Wishing the pain in my head and knee would just go away.

My dad returned after a short time. I heard what sounded like a large sheet of leather or animal skin spreading out next to Toothless. Felt the wind it created as it came to rest.

"All right, Hiccup. Since only Odin can make you leave Toothless alone, you can rest here," he told me. I looked to my left and saw an animal skin spread on the floor. My dad tromped up the stairs, grabbing my pillow and blanket and brought them back down. He tossed them onto the makeshift bed and told us, "Get some rest. You deserve it. I don't think anyone on Berk is as brave as you two and Fishlegs."

I slowly craned my neck to look at my dad. That little compliment took me totally by surprise.

"Thank you, Stoick," Astrid said, apparently speaking for the two of us. For whatever reason, I just couldn't form words at the moment.

My dad nodded silently at us and walked out. From outside the closed door, I heard him say, "Oh, good. Thank you, Gobber. I think Hiccup will be appreciative of it." It sounded like my dad was speaking loud enough to make sure I heard what he was saying.

"It was nothing," Gobber said. Two seconds later, he opened the door and loped toward me and Toothless. He was carrying some kind of wooden tool in his hand. "This is for you, Hiccup. I didn't have enough time to make you a new peg."

He put the object on the ground, pretty much where he had left my peg. It was a wooden crutch. Something I could use to keep from simply hopping around.

I let go of Toothless and put my hand on the crutch, trying to figure out if it was real or not. I decided it was. "Thanks, Gobber. I really appreciate it," I said. Immediately, I kinda wished I would have said it a little differently, because it sounded too much like I was following my dad's oblique instructions. Oh, well.

"Sure thing, lad. You know, I think we have some Gronckle iron left in the armory. I'll check, and if I find it, you can use it for a new peg."

"That sounds really good," I said. "But I want to make sure Toothless is gonna be okay first." I looked back at him, who was still asleep. Hoped he'd wake up soon.

"All right. See you soon." Gobber walked out of the house.

That little conversation was exactly what I needed. Something to get my mind off of Toothless and all this pain. I wasn't sure if Gobber knew what he just did, but he brought me back to reality. And I didn't feel worried at all, even though reality was the last place I wanted to be two minutes ago. But somehow, I felt calmer after that exchange.

"Can I leave you two alone for a little bit?" Astrid asked. Without looking at her I nodded slowly. She left.

I took a deep breath and worked my way onto the animal skin. Looked at Toothless. Listened to him breathing. It sounded like the bellows in the armory. I stroked him gently on his cheek. He sighed, rumbling just enough to be barely audible. To me, it was the best sound I had heard for the past few days. I lay down, getting the pillow underneath my head. The air around us felt more peaceful. The pain in my head and knee was gradually going away. I slowly closed my eyes and fell asleep listening to Toothless breathe.


	10. Chapter 10

I knew I had a long way to go before I got caught up on sleep. Three hundred sixty three days or so, to be exact. But I could catch up later. I stirred with a quiet groan and opened my eyes. Looked around. There was a hearth about ten feet from my head, giving off a warm, yellow glow. A table was near my foot, on my left-hand side. Nobody was sitting there, so Astrid must have gone back home. And there was a Night Fury named Toothless, breathing rhythmically, fast asleep directly to my left. His breathing sounded like the bellows in the armory. Bellows I was planning on using today, if my head felt good enough.

I sat up gingerly, taking the scene in. It was a little slice of life, when nobody has anything pressing to do, where time should just stop because everything was perfect. Or as close as you could get to it. My left knee was still wrapped and burning slightly. My head was still ringing just enough to be aware of it. And Toothless still hadn't awoken. But he was breathing, and compared to last night, it sounded stronger.

I took a deep breath, feeling the world melt away. Stroked Toothless on his cheek. He sighed with a low murmur. I smiled. I couldn't prove it, but you know that feeling you get when you are just _absolutely sure_ of something? That was how I felt about Toothless. Somehow, I just knew deep down he was gonna be fine. And don't call me optimistic, but I felt like our lives were on-track to returning to normal.

I knew I was gonna waste away to nothing if I just sat here and moped about what had happened to us. And it was ironic that I thought there was nobody to blame in shooting me and Toothless down. Gobber apologized last night, but how could he tell? For all anyone knew, Toothless glowed blue, just like the Flightmare. And from a distance, it was probably difficult to tell them apart within a few seconds.

Using the edge of Toothless's rock as leverage, I hoisted myself up, grabbing the crutch along the way. It was a T-shaped staff that only came up to my waist, something I could lean on without tiring my right leg out too much.

I took one last look at Toothless before heading toward the door. Opened it. Looked around for about ten seconds, trying to get used to the sunlight's glare. And sneezed. This always happened to me when the sun was out. But my head didn't start ringing again, so I figured it was a good sign.

I was hungry, so I hobbled my way to the great hall for breakfast. The stairs weren't gonna happen, so I took the back way, up the incline we used for carting materials to and from the docks. Walked inside and grabbed a smoked salmon. Sat down by myself, and didn't care one bit about being alone. If someone joined me, that was fine too. I began eating, relishing the taste of food after what seemed like an eternity. I knew I lost a day after that nightmare about Toothless, and I hadn't eaten since supper the night before.

Nobody joined me, which was fine. I got to eat my meal in peace. Finished, and took the plate and mug to the back for washing. And walked out. Just like it was another day, except I was missing half a leg.

I got to the armory without much fuss and saw a small bucket with a sheet of parchment on top. The parchment had only one word: "Hiccup." Looked inside. The bucket was half-full of scrap Gronckle iron we had lying around from other things, like the multi-purpose shield I made for myself or the kazillion swords we made for people here. I got to work heating up the coals with the bellows, which was much harder on only one leg. I noticed how much it sounded like Toothless breathing.

I had made several pegs for myself in the past, so this was nothing new. In fact, Gronckle iron was easier than standard iron to manage. Cleaner melting, ridiculously strong after being forged or casted. There was a huge difference between Gronckle iron and standard iron when it came to strength. I tossed the scraps onto the coals and waited for them to get orange-hot.

The only problem in working with loose scraps was getting the pieces to fit together cleanly. Over the years, the best solution I found was to get the iron just below its melting point and hammer the scraps together one-by-one. That's not to say this solution was _easy_, mind you. It was just the easiest solution I had found so far. I made a mental note for some research and development, trying to figure out how to fuse scraps easily.

After four heat-hammer-cool cycles, I finally got a long piece that was going to serve as the foot. I heated one side in the fire beneath the coals and bent it into shape by hammering. Next, I heated the foot again and took a small poking rod. While the iron was still glowing, I stuck the rod into the foot slightly and pulled gently downward, making a group of jagged points for better grip on surfaces. I knew I was gonna tear up the inside of any house I walked into, but I figured with dragons around, it wasn't anything compared to what they could do.

I had started on the "shin" of the peg when I heard Astrid's voice.

"Hiccup, whatever you do, just don't turn around," she said. It sounded like she was trying to be serious, but I heard a hint in her tone that said she had some kind of surprise for me.

I put the Gronckle iron scraps back on the coals knowing they weren't going anywhere and blatantly defied Astrid's orders. I turned around, hopping because my crutch was about ten feet away. And found two deep yellow-green eyes staring directly at me.

"Toothless! Hey, bud!" I leaned forward and caught myself on his neck with a hug. Toothless grunted happily as I wrapped my arms around him. I pulled away, and he licked me in the face, saying he was okay. I fell backwards into a sitting position, where Toothless nosed into my chest with a short _whuff_, knocking me onto my back. I didn't mind one bit, knowing he was gonna be fine. Scratched him underneath his chin. He murmured in contentment with his eyes closed.

"How'd you get him over here?" I asked Astrid from my back. Toothless began rubbing into my shoulder with his snout, asking for more attention. I stroked the top of his head, getting a low rumble from him.

"Brought him some fish and kept one in my hand. He followed me wherever I went."

"Did you get any gifts from him?"

"No, thank goodness." I noticed Astrid was concealing a fish behind her back. She produced it and held it near Toothless's head.

Before my dragon did anything, I said sarcastically, "Oh, great." Toothless grabbed the fish out of Astrid's hand, bit it in half and swallowed, looking at me in excitement.

"All I'm gonna say is that I get revenge from a couple days ago," Astrid told me with a grin.

Toothless's stomach sucked in with a gagging sound. His eyes lost focus just as his mouth opened, spilling the back end of the fish onto my chest. Astrid laughed.

I rolled my eyes and tossed the fish at her feet using my thumb and forefinger. Astrid jumped, but didn't try to retaliate. "Thanks, bud," I said, stroking Toothless's cheek. And I meant it this time too. He closed his eyes and rumbled softly.

I rolled back to a sitting position, Toothless backing up slightly to give me room. Stood up with a grimace because I used my left leg in a kneeling position. It was still on the mend, so no peg for a little bit. Hopped, turning around and grabbed the scrap iron off the coals. And started pounding away.

It felt amazing to just be in the armory again, working on something. Producing something. And Toothless was as calm as ever, just watching. I thought it was curious he had an attention span this long when I was in the armory. If I tried to get him to watch anything else, he'd wander off in a huff within ten seconds. His tranquility here was the reason he was the only dragon allowed in the armory.

After the "shin" of the peg was in a rough shape, I looked at Astrid and said, "So, I've been thinking about your uncle."

"Oh, really?" she said daringly. "For how long?"

"About five seconds or so." I gave her a small innocent grin.

"What about my uncle?" Astrid asked. She had a tone that said she didn't like where this conversation was about to be headed.

"I think he really _was_ fearless," I said without giving her a chance to think too much.

"So you believe he didn't ruin my family name?"

"No, not at all. I just don't know how anyone's gonna convince Berk about that."

Astrid shrugged. Telling people a fact was one thing. Getting rid of a pervasive rumor was almost not worth the effort. And when three teenagers were the only people who actually knew the truth, it was gonna be about as hard as getting the Berserkers to honor a peace treaty. Probably not gonna happen. "Maybe we don't have to," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"I can live with knowing the truth. Their opinions don't matter anymore, not when it comes to my family name."

"You're okay with that?"

She shrugged. "I guess. I just don't wanna go around town right now trying to convince people about it. Maybe some other time." I was about to say something when Astrid interrupted me. "And no, I'm not talking to Snotlout about this."

I paused, almost thinking Astrid could read my mind. "Uh, well, I think he's gonna forget about it soon anyway. At least until Arvendole's Fire comes back."

"And I say we let _him_ deal with the Flightmare." She had a tone that sounded almost sadistic.

"ASTRID!" a woman's voice shouted. Astrid flinched in surprise. "Why are you in there with a Night Fury!?"

I spun around too quickly. Lost my balance and fell because I forgot about not having a left leg. I grunted and tried to grab onto a hammer, like it was gonna hold my weight. It went flying and slammed into the wall, causing Toothless to jump slightly and growl. I looked up, toward the vista, to find an upside-down Astrid talking to her aunt.

Astrid started to say something, but her aunt cut her off. "You don't realize that dragon burned this place down? And where's Hiccup? He should know better than to have a dragon here."

"Does she seriously think I'm invisible!?" I shouted from the floor. I didn't care if she flew into a rampage. Toothless was gonna protect me anyway.

I got up with a groan and grabbed my crutch. Hobbled over to the vista. And gave a flustered sigh. "What do you need?" I asked tersely.

"I need to know why you let a dragon-"

I cut Astrid's aunt off, saying, "You don't need any swords or shields?"

"Do _not_ interrupt me, young man!"

"Look, if you need any supplies, let me know now. If you don't, please leave. As you can see, I'm very busy here. And you should know better than to surprise me when I'm working," I said. I knew the part about being busy was a lie, but with the blatant disrespect Astrid's aunt showed, I didn't really care right now.

"Your father is going to know about this!" she said threateningly.

I said flatly, "You go tell him." She stormed off with a huff. "Good riddance," I mumbled under my breath, rolling my eyes in irritation. I looked at Astrid and said, "I'm sorry, but-"

"Don't be sorry, Hiccup. When she gets on those streaks like that, nothing's gonna stop her."

"Does she do that often?" I asked.

"Not really, unless Arvendole's Festival is happening. If she goes off on one of her rants, I just take Stormfly out for a flight." Astrid paused with a shocked look on her face. She was staring at two people in the vista. "Uh, Hiccup?" she said.

"Great," I mumbled. Astrid's aunt had made good on her threat to tell my dad. She had that I-told-you-so look on her face.

"Hiccup, did you attack her?" my dad asked, pointing at Astrid's aunt. "She says you jumped through the window and tried to choke her."

Astrid nearly fell down laughing. I couldn't help breaking into a small grin.

I took advantage of Astrid's aunt telling a blatant lie just for a little bit of attention and ran with it. "Ab-so-lute-ly," I said sardonically. Even a deaf person would have been able to tell I was being sarcastic.

My dad grinned slightly and said, "Well, in the future, just make sure to use the techniques I taught you. And if that doesn't work, I think Toothless could help." He winked surreptitiously in my direction. I watched as Astrid's aunt turned her expression from confident to flabbergasted within a second. She kept switching her gaze between me, my dad and Toothless.

"Got it," I said.

"As for _you_," my dad said, turning to Astrid's aunt. "I don't appreciate you accusing my son of doing something he'd never do. Why did you lie to me?"

Her eyes widened fearfully, and her mouth opened and closed without making a sound.

"There's a reason Toothless is allowed in the armory," my dad told her. It sounded like he had picked up on what Astrid's aunt was actually complaining about. "And if you have a problem with that, you come talk to me about it." My dad turned away from her and began walking toward the great hall. Astrid's aunt stood there in shock for a few seconds before slowly shuffling away from the armory.

"I think I'm gonna finish this peg," I said, breaking the silence that had filled the void around us. I didn't have a lot of steps left. Just connect the two sides with pegs that could move up-and-down in slots and spring-load the two pieces. I didn't like making springs this small, so I just grabbed some that were already made. They were cast iron, the only part of this peg that wasn't Gronckle iron.

I heated the top of the foot section, where it was gonna overlap with the shin and dug out two pits for the pegs to fit. The pegs were pretty easy to make, and I welded them to the bottom of the shin using molten iron and made sure they were straight. Filed them down and fitted the springs on them. I also tipped them with small ball bearings to keep them from slipping out of the slots.

This last step was probably the hardest part of the entire process. I had to get the pegs into the slots, while keeping the springs loaded and in place. On top of all that, I needed to put a layer of Gronckle iron around the pegs to keep them from slipping, but I couldn't let the slot covers attach to the pegs. Overall, it was pretty tricky, but it wasn't like I was gonna use a whole bunch of iron for this step.

"Mind if I watch?" Astrid asked.

"Sure, just be careful," I said.

I put the peg on the anvil and had a small stone beaker of molten Gronckle iron next to it. All of this had to be done within two or three minutes. If I couldn't finish within that time, the iron had to go back into the fire.

I coated one slot without too much trouble with the molten iron. The second slot got the iron stuck to the peg, which was a minor inconvenience. I finished the cover as best as I could and reached for the smallest file I could find. Cut through the misplaced iron and reapplied it with no trouble. Success.

I stood and hopped over to the barrel of water we kept in the center of the armory. Slowly dunked the peg, listening to the occasional hiss from hot iron. Pulled the peg out and put it on the anvil. The stone beaker went back on the shelf, next to the bellows.

"You made that look easy," Astrid said, eyeing the newly formed peg I had made for myself.

"I try," I replied, wiping my brow with a small rag.

I looked at Toothless, who was curled up and asleep in a corner, near my little study. It was gonna be at least a couple more days before I could wear the peg, thanks to my knee. Which meant at least a couple more days before flight. I just hoped Toothless would understand.

"Stormfly's getting impatient," Astrid said after a while. "I'm gonna get her some chicken, and then we're going for a flight. You can join us if you want."

"Wish I could," I replied. "I can't even use a peg for at least another day. Not while my knee is healing."

She shrugged. "Well, I guess that's okay. But I know of at least one person I can trust to have my back."

Before I could say anything, Astrid gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and left. I stood there in shock, as usual. And Toothless was looking at me with a teasing expression.

* * *

"All right, let's see what's behind this," I mumbled. I was at home with Toothless, getting ready to unwind for the evening. I untied the strings holding the leather scrap to my left knee and peeled it back. The ointment between the leather and my knee pulled away in small liquid ropes as I took the leather scrap off. Toothless padded over to where I was sitting and immediately sniffed at my knee. He must have seen the gash that rock had created. "You're not gonna like it," I warned.

But he did it anyway. He took one swipe at my knee with his tongue before I could do anything to remove the ointment. Toothless jumped back with an irritated roar, using his teeth to get rid of the ointment coating his tongue. I thought he looked hilarious with his eyes crossed toward his snout, as if he could actually see the stuff coming off his tongue.

"Told ya," I said to him. I had a small washcloth in my hand, and I used it to gingerly remove the excess from my knee. I figured it was gonna take Toothless a while to calm down after that little surprise, but in the end, he could do a better job at healing me than anything else. So I just had to wait for him to decide it was safe again.

After a few minutes, Toothless must have decided that taste was gone from his mouth. He slowly approached my leg as I was lying on my front. I had a few scraps of parchment in front of me, writing information about the Flightmare. We already knew which direction it came from. I was gonna add why it follows the same path. How to stop it. What it can do. I was gonna compare my notes to Fishlegs in the future. When I could actually walk.

I felt Toothless swipe his tongue across my left knee. He was cautious at first, making sure he didn't get a foul taste again. This time, it didn't seem to bother him. There was a little bit of pain every time his tongue met my knee, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. He worked into a rhythm, making sure to take his time healing my knee. It was just another one of his little quirks that made me thankful to have met him on that first fateful day.

My plan tomorrow was to make a cushioned support for my peg to attach to my knee. I didn't know about Toothless, but I was itching to get back into the air. And I wanted to be there by tomorrow evening.

I quickly became tired, so I pushed the information about the Flightmare off to the side and laid my head on my pillow. I couldn't get up and down the stairs well, so I was staying near the hearth again tonight. And so was Toothless. I watched Toothless pad over to his rock and char it, just like he did every night. He looked at me as he curled up. And closed his eyes. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep, listening to him breathing.

* * *

**Author's note: Thanks to everyone who favorited, followed and/or commented on this story. It was a lot of fun to write, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. As always, comments, suggestions and reviews are most appreciated. Thanks for reading!**


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